Greyhound board chairman to step down in a year

Controversial greyhound board chairman Paschal Taggart plans to step down in 12 months time, he confirmed yesterday.

However, Mr Taggart told The Irish Times that the move was not connected with the recent greyhound doping scandal and the board's decision to sack its chief executive, Aidan Tynan.

Mr Taggart said yesterday he told Minister for Sport John O'Donoghue several months ago that he wanted to step down from his post as chairman of Bord na gCon, and that he would go by May 2007 at the latest.

"It was by mutual agreement with the Minister," he said. "I've been doing this for 11 years now and there are other things that I want to do."

He added that there were a number of projects that he needed to complete before he left the board. "They'll take about a year," he said.

Mr Taggart also confirmed he had shares in a greyhound in training with Kilkenny-based Paul Hennessy, one of the two handlers fined for using the banned performance-enhancing substance erythropoietin (EPO) on their dogs.

Bord na gCon's disciplinary committee fined Mr Hennessy and Cork-based John Kiely €1,000 each in November when they admitted that their dogs had been given EPO.

Shortly after news of the doping incident broke in January, Mr Taggart said at that time that Mr Hennessy was training a dog in which he had an interest.

"I'm involved in 10 or 12 dogs at the moment," Mr Taggart said yesterday. "They're all with different trainers." He added that a number of them were in the names of family members, and pointed out that they were all owned by groups or syndicates. "I don't own any dogs on my own," he said.

Contrary to its usual practice, Bord na gCon did not publish details of the fines for EPO use imposed on either trainer. Mr Taggart said it decided not to publish this as it had not informed trainers and owners that it had begun testing for the drug.

Bord na gCon sacked Mr Tynan after he wrote to the Minister in January expressing concern at the decision.

Mr Taggart has consistently argued that his dismissal was not connected with the EPO incident, and was rooted in a long-standing disagreement over the industry's finances and development strategy.

Reports at the weekend claimed that a review commissioned by the Minister contradicted this. However, Mr Taggart reiterated yesterday that the two events were not connected.