New chairman must put greyhound industry first

AS a concerned owner/trainer/breeder of greyhounds for more years than I care to remember, I wish to make a number of points regarding the imminent appointment of a new chairman of Bord na gCon.

The industry is now at a crossroads and many people fear for its long-term survival if great care is not taken with this new appointment.

I would appeal to the minister to think long and hard before making this appointment and make the health and stability of the greyhound industry his primary consideration. We need somebody of stature within the industry with the knowledge, experience and business expertise to lead the organisation for the next five to seven years.

The holder of this office needs to be proactive and should acquaint himself/herself with the day-to-day running of every track.

With the current budgetary constraints we need to look very closely at our wage bill to ensure we are getting good value for money.

There seems to me to be a huge overlap in all levels of bureaucracy within our tracks. The need for full-time general managers is open to question when you also have tote/racing/bar/restaurant/managers. We would also question the need for so much security staff at our tracks.

The grants from the exchequer need to be accounted for in an open and transparent manner. The delay in furnishing this information leaves a vacuum and people often jump to the wrong conclusions.

At the moment the owner/breeder/trainer are suffering a huge loss of earnings even though they have no input into the decision-making or running of the board. If there are people within the industry who are inefficient or surplus to requirements, then the hard decisions have to be made. There has been a 35% reduction in prize money in the past two years and we are now faced with the collapse of the English market for the moderate greyhound. The struggling owner/breeder is bearing the full brunt of the recession and inevitably this will lead to a drastic reduction to our greyhound numbers.

The need for someone with vision, knowledge and expertise was never more important. We need to put the greyhound industry first and the ordinary person will be very unforgiving if this does not happen.

Noel Mullins

Gort

Co Galway