Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1992 > Committee on Commercial State-Sponsored Bodies (6th Committee) > Report No. 05 - Bord Na gCON

APPENDIX II: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

II.1The competitive pursuit of hares by greyhounds has been engaged in in this country for centuries, but it was not an organised sport until 1819 when the first coursing meeting was held in the Curragh. During the nineteenth century the sport became increasingly popular with landed gentry, small farmers and farm labourers alike. By 1858, coursing was sufficiently widespread in the British Isles for a regulatory body to be required and in that year the National Coursing Club (NCC) was set up in England. With increasing numbers entering the sport, trade in greyhounds became extensive and in 1878, the NCC set up the Greyhound Stud Book. In Ireland, the passage of the Land Acts led to the gradual demise of landlord support for coursing but the interest of small farmers and farm labourers continued. Their traditional breeding skills and natural conditions combined to make Ireland the source of the majority of greyhounds coursed in Britain by the end of the nineteenth century.

II.2To supervise coursing in Ireland, the NCC established an Irish sub-committee. However, by the beginning of the twentieth century, the Irish members had become dissatisfied with the service they were receiving and in 1916 they resolved to set up the Irish Coursing Club (ICC). This was inaugurated in Thurles the following year. In 1923, the ICC established the Irish Greyhound Stud Book. Recognition of a mutual interest overcame any acrimony arising from the split and the ICC and NCC became, and remain, close collaborators in the regulation of greyhound breeding in these islands.

II.3The evolution of greyhound racing from coursing depended on the development of a means of making an artificial hare or lure travel in a circuit. In 1876 a coursing race in the US featured the first mechanical lure. However, it was not until the 1920s that an American inventor perfected an electrically driven device. With the introduction of night racing, greyhound racing as it is known today came into existence in the US and proved immediately popular. In 1926, the device was introduced to Britain and the first greyhound race as such in these islands took place at Belle Vue racetrack, Manchester. In April of the following year, the first race in Ireland was staged at Celtic Park, Belfast and in the following month, the first greyhound race at Shelbourne Park was held. As in the US, the sport proved immediately popular and greyhound tracks opened up all over Ireland and Britain. The new sport greatly increased interest in the breeding, training and racing of greyhounds and there was a huge increase in the value and volume of Irish greyhound exports to Britain.

II.4The recession of the 1930s and the Economic War slowed the development of greyhound breeding, but during the war, with the British tracks remaining open, demand recovered. The boom continued in the years immediately after the war. But in the 1950s, the inevitable reaction set in and there was a fall in the number of greyhounds bred and in the number and value of exports to Britain. By the late 1950s, however, the industry had stabilised and during the 1960s the number of exports to the UK began to expand once more.

II.5In the absence of any other body, the ICC extended its remit from coursing to greyhound racing and became the agency for ensuring that greyhound racing was fair. This was not done without some soul searching on the part of the ICC. In the UK, for example, the NCC confined itself to breeding and coursing and a new organisation, the National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) was set up to regulate racing. The increase in the scale of regulatory activities required to supervise greyhound racing and coursing in Ireland outran the capacity of the ICC and there was an increasing incidence of complaints about its effectiveness. Eventually, in 1951 the Government set up an Advisory Committee to investigate the sport and report on ways in which control and development should be strengthened.

II.6In 1952 the Committee published its report. It confirmed that there were widespread abuses in breeding, coursing and racing. Puppies were being substituted, documents were being falsified, racing form was being deliberately concealed, stewards and judges appointed by the ICC were not being impartial and where sanctions were being imposed, they were not being enforced. The Committee also concluded that information supplied to buyers of greyhounds was misleading with the result that the country’s export trade was being damaged. The structure and membership of the ICC was such that, in the opinion of the Advisory Committee, it was not capable of reforming itself.

II.7The Committee proposed that a Control Board be established, somewhat analogous to the Racing Board which had been set up in similar circumstances in 1945. However, the Committee proposed that the Control Board would have greater powers of regulation of greyhound racing than the Racing Board had of horse racing. Specifically, the Committee proposed that the Control Board be empowered to control greyhound racing and public auctions of greyhounds, while the ICC would be confined to coursing and breeding. The Committee proposed that the Board should be funded by the proceeds of an on-course betting levy and by the profits from the operation of totalisators which it recommended that the Board should have power to establish. In turn the Board should be authorized to allocate funds to enhance prize money, improve greyhound tracks, and promote exports. The Committee also recommended wide ranging changes in the constitution of the ICC.

II.8The recommendations of the Advisory Committee were accepted by the Government but it was not until 1955 that the Greyhound Industry Bill, proposing the establishment of Bord na gCon, was introduced in Dail Eireann. The progress of the legislation was further delayed by the change of government in 1957. However, the original Bill, with a number of modifications, was reintroduced after the new Government had taken office and in 1958 the Bill was enacted.