The committee set-up to head the campaign to save Harolds Cross are to address a significant group of Irish TDs and senators at Leinster House – the home of the Irish government – next Tuesday writes Floyd Amphlett.
Spokesman Paschal Taggart says: “This is a huge opportunity and we need to get an even bigger turn-out than at the Horse and Jockey last week. TD Alan Kelly has been absolutely brilliant pulling this together and we must not waste the opportunity.”
Taggart, in his time as IGB Chairman, saw greyhound attendances hit 1.4 million by the time of his departure and he slammed the current “chaotic and idiotic” board for dragging the greyhound industry to breaking point.
He said: “In 2005, greyhounds and horses were roughly equivalent in terms of attendances and tote, at 1.4 million and €52m. Now greyhound racing attendances are down to 675,000 and tote of €18m, where as horses are at €75m. It is absolute mismanagement. Try to talk to the board and all they do is point to the Indecon Report which said Harolds Cross should be closed. From a business perspective, that would be a disaster. Dublin is where the money is. These guys clearly don’t understand the greyhound business as they repeatedly show by the way they mismanage it.
“The Dublin Owners and Breeders have produced an absolutely fireproof plan based on sound economics. First of all, let’s look at the debt. The Board have been paying the interest and have reduced the debt from €25m to €20m – with Harolds Cross a major contributor to that. The Board haven’t missed a payment. Every bank in the world would love a customer like that.
“If you include tote profit, even on current figures, Harolds Cross would match the interest repayments on the €8m that you would get for selling the site. By racing Friday and Saturday, the same as Shelbourne, they could significantly increase profits and reduce the remaining debt by €1m per year. The Dublin owners have even promised that if they can’t make it work within two years, they would walk away and not oppose full unrestricted sale of the site which might raise €17m.
“The Board have lost track of the basics, getting bums on seats. They have tried to compensate with technology and they are useless at that too. I tried to watch and bet on last week’s meeting from Limerick where I had a runner in the semi finals and couldn’t follow a race. In the first semi final the commentary was of the dogs at the first bend, but the pictures were of the pick-up. The second semi didn’t appear at all. Everybody I have spoken to says it is a shambles.”
So would Taggart ever consider returning as IGB chairman?
He said: “Under no circumstances. However, I have offered to donate my time, experience, and any knowledge that I have, for free, for a year, to help this thing go forward.”
