Old skeletons and unsubstantiated charges in dog racing controversy
We are not denying that the now infamous alleged 'doping cover-up' involving Mr Tynan, IGB chairman Paschal Taggart and Sports Minister John O'Donoghue is a serious matter, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.
The Irish Examiner has not lost the plot; it has created a new one, delightfully interweaving unrelated stories into an epic saga.
This tremendous tale mischievously delves into long-past controversies from the IGB and it doesn't speculate, but strongly orders what must be done for the future: 'Taggart must go for the good of the sport.'
But surely, as a respectable daily broadsheet, this is not the duty of the Irish Examiner, which bordered on libel with the introduction to its editorial of January 31: "With the murky world of Irish greyhound racing mired in controversy..."
We believe the word "murky" is misplaced here. Indeed, the world of greyhound racing was mired in controversy following Mr Tynan's dismissal, but the editor's description is scandalous. It questions the integrity of the entire industry, casting a dark shadow over greyhound owners, trainers and breeders (the very backbone of our industry), over the board offices in Henry Street, Limerick, and over the management and directors of every greyhound stadium in the country. The Irish Examiner seems to forget that all the controversy is about something that is, essentially, a relatively trivial matter. It is not the tangled web of deceit and subterfuge that has been described in your pages.
It is about four board members and a chief executive doing their jobs and making decisions to the best of their knowledge with their unquestionably vast experience.
After a 4-1 vote take by the IGB's control committee, two positive EPO results were not published. Paschal Taggart has explained that there was little awareness of EPO at that time and that these were, in fact, the first positive EPO tests at the IGB laboratory. He deemed a substantial fine and a forfeit of prizemoney appropriate. He has stated that this decision was made with the integrity of the industry at heart.
Aidan Tynan, it seems, was concerned that the control committee had not followed their usual policy of publishing the names of the trainers and sent a letter to Sports Minister John O'Donoghue with regards to the EPO positives. Mr Tynan wished to publish the names but was overruled by Mr Taggart.
Following a board meeting on January 26, Aidan Tynan was relieved of his duties as chief of the Irish Greyhound Board. Paschal Taggart has stated that this decision was not in any way connected to the EPO positives, but was related to difficulties that came to the fore last October. According to Mr Taggart, these matters have been documented in the board's minutes.
Mr O'Donoghue, as was his duty, called for an investigation into Mr Tynan's dismissal and the handling of the EPO positives to be undertaken by Tim Dalton, former secretary general of the Department of Justice.
So why couldn't the Irish Examiner reserve judgement and comment until Mr Dalton's report is finalised? We were unaware that the Irish Examiner had dismissed its conservative style for a sensationalist, tabloid-like approach.
Why has the Irish Examiner launched such a bitter smear campaign on the greyhound racing industry and why does it seem to have a personal vendetta against Paschal Taggart?
Why did the Irish Examiner insist on digging up old skeletons, making unsubstantiated allegations about matters that have no link to the board's decision to dismiss Aidan Tynan and have no link to the control committee's decision not to publish the names of trainers whose greyhounds tested positive for EPO?
On Tuesday, February 7, in an article headlined 'Greyhound trainer has doping fine in Britain,' Jimmy Woulfe revealed that Heart Rumble, a greyhound trained by Paul Hennessy, tested positive for nandrolone in December 2004.
Mr Hennessy was fined €1,167 by NGRC stewards in London.
However, Mr Woulfe's report fails to mention that nandrolone wasn't (and still isn't) on the list of banned substances in Ireland.
In Mr Woulfe's introduction, the comment about Paschal Taggart claiming that Mr Hennessy was lacking in 'awareness' is misleading. Mr Taggart said he believed there was a general lack of awareness with regards to EPO.
Why, then, did Mr Woulfe link a story about a greyhound testing positive in Sunderland for a substance that isn't banned in Ireland and an EPO case (the same EPO that isn't related to nandrolone) to the current controversy?
Essentially, the story is irrelevant and not only was it printed in the Irish Examiner it made the front page. We were aggrieved enough when the Irish Examiner directly linked Aidan Tynan's dismissal to his letter to Minister O'Donoghue on January 27, but this, we felt, was the final straw.
This was the Irish Examiner scraping the bottom of the barrel to get another front page story to keep the bandwagon rolling just as we thought it might finally stop.
Why did the Irish Examiner, the publication of choice for so many greyhound owners, suddenly become so slanted?
All we ask for is a return to fair, balanced reporting, the kind of reporting that the Irish Examiner has always offered the greyhound industry until this recent turn. This has not just left a bitter taste, it has left us feeling cheated by a publication we assumed would remain a loyal friend to our sport.
Jimmy Barry-Murphy
Chairman
Noel Holland
General Manger, Director
Brian Collins
Racing Manager, Director
Jackie Murphy
Kathleen Lynch
Richard O'Regan
Willie Kenny
Mort Cronin
Directors
Cork Greyhound
Race Co Ltd
Curraheen Park
Curraheen Road
Cork
