A greyhound racing board member told a board meeting last week he believed a number of trainers were using the performance-enhancing drug EPO on greyhounds, a report into the affair shows, writes Barry O'Halloran.
Bord na gCon recently fined two trainers, Paul Hennessy and John Kiely, €1,000 each after their dogs tested positive for Erythropoietin (EPO), a banned substance, after races.
The report, sent to Minister for Sport John O'Donoghue, and seen by The Irish Times, shows that Frank O'Connell, a member of the disciplinary committee that imposed the fines, said at a board meeting last week that he believed a number of trainers were using EPO to treat illness in their dogs.
According to the meeting's minutes, he stated "some used it for specific medical conditions such as low blood counts, renal failure etc". Mr O'Connell said he believed the trainers doing this were unaware of the consequences of their actions.
He said Mr Hennessy and Mr Kiely had told him since their fines that they "did not realise what the implications were". Details of the hearings show that Mr Kiely was paying a vet €100 for each 100 ml EPO injection.
The two men were fined after a hearing in November. Bord na gCon did not publish details of this decision as it normally would, on the grounds that it was not in the greyhound industry's interest.
Instead it decided to take advertisements in two trade papers stating that EPO was banned and that it had recently begun testing for it. The ads warned that trainers would face tough sanctions if their dogs tested positive. However, the board's chief executive, Aidan Tynan, informed Mr O'Donoghue of the hearing in a letter.
The board and its chairman, Paschal Taggart, maintain that its decision to sack Mr Tynan was not a result of this and say there were ongoing differences between the chief executive and the members of the board.
The report, says Mr Tynan went to Bord na gCon's employee grievance procedure last month following disagreements with board members and Mr Taggart over spending, costs and general management issues.
The report shows that over the past three months, board members were becoming concerned at a fall in cash flow from €5 million to €4.6 million, a €1 million increase in labour costs and a similar hike in advertising spending.
Mr Tynan began legal action against Bord na gCon, but has since settled with it.
Mr O'Donoghue has asked the former secretary general of the Department of Justice, Tim Dalton, to complete an independent review of the EPO hearing and Mr Tynan's dismissal.