Leaking of Bord na gCon report deplored

People referred to in the Dalton report on Bord na gCon had until yesterday to respond to the document and its conclusions, the Dáil was told.

Minister for Sport John O'Donoghue said he would accept no more submissions after close of business yesterday and he rejected claims that the delay in publishing the report had turned into a "farce", because so much of it had been leaked.

The Minister also confirmed there would be a need to change the legislation arising from the report. "Legislation governing the greyhound industry dates back to the Greyhound Industry Act 1958. It is archaic and needs to be changed," he said.

"For example, a person can be appointed for numerous terms to the board. The chairman of the board does not have a fixed term. That is not the case with any other State agency. People will accept there is a need for the legislation to be changed. It is an open secret that there will have to be change."

Mr O'Donoghue deplored the leaking of the document and said the situation was "quite straightforward. I requested people to observe due process. As I have said before, neither I nor my officials leaked the report and we were not responsible for it."

Department officials had been accused of leaking sections of the report.

The submissions will be made available to the report's author, Tim Dalton, former secretary of the Department of Justice, to finalise his report. Once that was done, the Minister said, he would bring proposals to Cabinet for dealing with the report's recommendations.

The Minister also confirmed the appointment to the greyhound racing board of former SDLP deputy leader Séamus Mallon to represent northern interests and Dick O'Sullivan, manager of Punchestown racecourse to replace John Hegarty and Cathal Curley, whose terms of office had expired.

Fine Gael spokesman Jimmy Deenihan said there were no women on the board and they should be represented. Mr O'Donoghue said it was his intention that women be represented. "A woman from the department was on the board until recently but unfortunately she resigned."

Mr Deenihan said there had been highly selective leaking of the document targeted at the chairman of Bord na gCon. "Surely it is not due process when one person, a busy businessman who gave 10 years of his life to Bord na gCon and from which he took no fees, should be singled out and targeted in this manner."

The Minister said he was deeply disappointed at the leaks and agreed that chairman Paschal Taggart was a respected businessman who had made a considerable contribution to the greyhound industry.

Labour's spokesman Jack Wall said the Minister had received a copy of the report on April 5th and the "subsequent delay in publishing it has allowed a farce to be created and diminished the standing of everyone concerned including the Minister".