A full house of Irish racing’s good and great turned out at the Horse and Jockey Hotel in Thurles on Sunday evening and their message to the Irish Greyhound Board and Minister Doyle was – ‘We are going nowhere!’ writes Floyd Amphlett.
Any suggestions, as propagated by the Irish Greyhound Board’s propaganda machine ‘Talking Dogs’, that there were cracks in the campaign to reopen Harolds Cross, were blown away by 750 diehard enthusiasts. Former IGB chairman Paschal Taggart chaired the meeting.
He said: “It was a fantastic meeting. The place was full to capacity and they had to put some speakers outside the main room for everyone to hear. There were five TDs and a senator in attendance, though unfortunately two or three big name trainers weren’t. The feeling in the room was overwhelmingly in favour of the entire IGB board resigning and if they had anything about them, they would do so this morning. The votes were unanimous, with the exception of one vote of 749-1 as a vote of ‘no confidence’in the board with one guy suggesting ‘well they aren’t all bad’.
Paul Dillon, Alan Kelly, Paschal Taggart – pic Yvonne Harrington
“Seriously, the mood was absolutely solid and Shelbourne will not race again until Harolds Cross has re-opened. We will no longer negotiate with the Board but are forming a seven-person committee including two Irish Greyhound Owners and Breeders representatives, Bill Murphy and Paul Dillon, two members of the Dublin owners and breeders, Mike O’Keefe and Jimmy O’Hanlon and three more people to be identified.
“We heard the business plan as to why Harolds Cross needs to be kept open. Dublin is already responsible for 50% of Irish GDP. The projection is that that will increase to 60% within five years as the population of Dublin rises to 1.8m. The revenue from Harolds Cross will be needed to subsidise the smaller tracks down country. To close a Dublin 6 track in these circumstances would be suicide for the industry.”
Among the supporters was Tipperary owner-breeder Clare Hanley who captured the mood of the ‘doggie people’ in attendance.
She said: “When I looked around me I could see the faces familiar to me from the tracks I frequent throughout Ireland . . and famous faces known to me from The Sporting Press, The Racing Post and The Greyhound Star.
“Pascal Taggart was at his brilliant best , opening the meeting on time and kept things moving throughout. Bill Murphy, Chairman of the IGOBF spoke very well and gave his full support to the campaign to reopen Harolds Cross.I thought he spoke sincerely and he was very well received by all.
“Don Hyde, CPA was up next and he went through the finances for the greyhound industry. The evidence of the absolute collapse in tote, attendances, prize money was laid bare and in my opinion the mismanagement of the greyhound industry by the IGB over the past decade is irrefutable given the figures quoted.
“TD Alan Kelly demonstrated huge knowledge and insight into the manner in which Harolds Cross was closed, the complete lack of confidence the stakeholders have with our IGB and our frustration with the way we are being treated. He told us to mark May 4th in our diaries as the IGB are coming before the Public Accounts Committee and he will get answers. Ten out of ten for Alan Kelly”.
Mick O Keefe , Hon Sec of DGOBA was terrific too. His genuine love for Harolds Cross and his grief for the manner in which the Dubs have been treated shone through. He got a tremendous reception from the crowd and was left in no doubt that the DGOBA have huge support from greyhound people from the four corners of Ireland.”
“The vote of no confidence in Meaney, Brady and the entire Board was overwhelming and I cannot for the life of me see how the entire Board will not resign with immediate effect given they have lost the confidence of the entire industry.”
