Taggart claims dog report backs his position

The chairman of Bord na gCon claimed last night that a report into the dismissal of its chief executive Aidan Tynan, states it is "wrong" to suggest it was simply caused by the dog doping row that hit the agency earlier this year.

However he admitted it did say that it was a factor in the board's decision to dismiss Mr Tynan last January, the same month in which the doping controversy blew up.

Paschal Taggart issued a statement last night, saying he had received a copy of the report into the controversy by former justice department boss Tim Dalton.

Sports minister, John O'Donoghue commissioned the report after Mr Tynan wrote to him in January informing him of a board disciplinary hearing that fined two trainers, Paul Hennessy and John Kiely, after their dogs tested positive for using the performance-boosting drug Erythpoitein (EPO).

The disciplinary hearing took place in November, and contrary to its normal policy, Bord na gCon did not publish its findings.

Mr Taggart's statement quotes a section of Mr Dalton's report: "It is wrong to suggest that Mr Tynan's dismissal can be put down to simply the fact that he wrote a letter to the minister dated 18th of January 2006 about the board's integrity management procedures. Relations between Mr Tynan and the board had been worsening steadily well before that time, for reasons that had nothing to do with integrity management procedures."

The report does argue that neither is it true to say that the letter was irrelevant. Mr Dalton says that it brought relations between the chief executive and the board to a new low and "almost certainly hastened the board's decision to dismiss him".

"The board was not satisfied with Mr Tynan's performance on a number of grounds," he says. "Relations between the board and its chief executive worsened following a difficult board meeting on October 29th 2005, from that point onwards, his continued employment was in jeopardy.

"In the period October 2005 to January 2006, relations and communications between the board and Mr Tynan had, in effect, reached a state where there was no real prospect of their continuing to work together..."

In his statement last night, Mr Taggart claimed that the report backed his position that Mr Tynan's dismissal and the row over the disciplining of the two trainers after their dogs tested positive were "in no way" related.

"The report covers many areas concerning Bord na gCon and these are now being studied by the board and senior executives at Bord na gCon," he says. "We will be issuing a more comprehensive statement in the coming days."

Earlier this week, Mr Taggart confirmed he will step down in 12 months. He has held the post since 1995.

A spokeswoman for Mr Tynan said last night that he would not be commenting.