Results 2,721-2,740 of 4,350 for speaker:Bobby Aylward

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: Are they political appointments?

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: I wanted to clarify that. Modern day boards do not allow people to stay for that length of time and they move on to allow fresh blood and fresh people. Again, I mean no disrespect to the person involved. Who appoints the executive?

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: So the CEO is appointed by the board and CEO appoints the rest down the line through the normal process of interviews, experience and so on.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: Why are the 2015 accounts only coming before the Comptroller and Auditor General now, a year and five months behind? Why are they not up to date and why did it take that length of time? Will 2016 not become available for another two years again?

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: It was raised here with the Comptroller and Auditor General and he said he was waiting on Bord na gCon to present them and it looked as though Bord na gCon had been pushed to present them rather than presenting them voluntarily. I am only asking these questions.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: I want to ask about the disquiet and the complaints I have heard from ordinary dog breeders and so on. Will the witnesses comment on why they might be so angry and why there is so much disquiet? Will the witnesses, as a board or executive, give a reason that feeling exists and why there is so much noise and disquiet about what is happening and unhappiness about the direction in which the...

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: The industry seems to have suffered. The ordinary breeder seems to have suffered while this was happening. Many people have left and are leaving the greyhound industry. If we do not put money back into it and revitalise it, we will not have an industry.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: I wish to discuss Harold's Cross, about which there is a big debate at the moment. As we were coming in today, we saw a group protesting outside. A presentation was arranged by the Chairman a couple of weeks ago in the Dáil which was attended by many of us. It was said at that meeting that there was no problem. People who were at the meeting said that if they were in control, they...

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: In hindsight, is Dr. Brady happy that Bord na gCon invested so much in Limerick and had to sacrifice Harold's Cross to pay for it? Harold's Cross was Bord na gCon's third biggest income generator. According to figures I have, it was a profitable stadium that was making money. It is like selling the silver to pay for gold.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: Was Harold's Cross sacrificed?

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: In hindsight, do the witnesses think Bord na gCon handled this sale, if one calls it that, well? I am told that the board of Harold's Cross was not even notified. I was told that a week before, some of the witnesses met the director of the stadium and guaranteed that Bord na gCon would keep it open for another 12 months. The following Monday, there were padlocks on the gates and a lot of...

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: Time for reflection.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: Could Dr. Brady answer my question first?

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: The least Dr. Brady could say is that the IGB was disrespectful to the board of Harold's Cross.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: From what I hear, they were told and the padlocks were put on gates to the stadium. Material was removed so that racing could not continue. The board had been there for years and was running the third biggest track in the country and all of a sudden it was gone. In any event, we have gone through it and I wish to move on. Given the protests that are taking place at Shelbourne Park, what...

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: Damage is being done to the industry while this is going on, financially, in terms of breeding and every other way across the board. We depend on the English market a lot and there is much disquiet while the situation is ongoing. It must be brought to a conclusion sooner rather than later or permanent damage will be done.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: We will move on to other mundane matters. I understand that the IGB funding allocation increased significantly, by approximately €2.75 million, from 2014 to 2015. However, the allocation of prize money to greyhound owners was reduced by €800,000. It seems that total prize money paid in 2015 was €6.67 million, which is down almost 50% on what was paid in 2007. That is...

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: Does Mr. Murnane accept there is a 50% reduction based on the figures I outlined from 2007 to 2015? That is a massive amount.

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: The IGB was hitting the people that depended on it - the meat and bone of the industry - by reducing the prize money by 50%. Should the IGB not have looked elsewhere to cut costs without affecting the prize money? I was in contact with people who depend on the prize money. One breeder who is a genuine man and who has been involved in the industry all his life has approximately 15 bitches...

Public Accounts Committee: Bord na gCon: Financial Statements 2015 (4 May 2017)

Bobby Aylward: Mr. Murnane agrees with what I am saying, namely, that the money that was given as prize money went into servicing the debt. That is where the money went instead of going to the owners.