Government ‘paid double for Harold’s Cross race track’
Greyhound stadium was valued at just €12m
The Times (Ireland Edition) October 8 2018
by Seán McCárthaigh, Senior Ireland Reporter
The €23 million that it cost the government to buy a former greyhound stadium in Dublin was almost twice the value placed on it by consultants acting for its owners, The Times can reveal.
The Department of Education bought the land at Harold’s Cross last year from the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) to build much-needed schools in an area of Dublin with a growing young population.
The department agreed to pay €23 million, but records obtained by a freedom of information request show that Savills, the estate agents working for the greyhound board, had valued the land at €12 million if it was going to be used for housing and €6 million without any change to its zoning status as land for recreational amenities. Land used for schools would generally cost the same or less than land used for housing.
At the time IGB, otherwise known as Bord na gCon, had debts of more than €21 million and the money provided by the department exceeded this amount.
Seán Fleming, chairman of the Dáil’s public accounts committee (PAC), said last night that the issue raised doubts about the amount paid by the state.
“This is a prima facie case of the price paid not being connected to the value of the site,” Mr Fleming said. “The valuation on the property should have been the overriding feature of how much the Department of Education paid for the site, but it does not seem to have been in this case.”
The Fianna Fáil TD said he expected that the public accounts committee would examine the matter. Its members described the €23 million sale of the track as a government bailout for the debt-ridden greyhound board. David Cullinane, a Sinn Féin TD, said it was remarkable how the value of the deal was enough to wipe out the debt.
The purchase of the stadium was subject to the site being re-zoned for school use, which was approved by Dublin city council in September last year.
Documents show that Seán Ó Foghlú, secretary general of the Department of Education, told the PAC last year that its offer of €23 million was based on an assessment of the site by the Valuation Office as required when property is being transferred between two state bodies. He claimed that a circular issued by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform set out that the market value determined by the Valuation Office was “binding”. Its value of €23 million was provided in April last year, one month after Savills’ valuation of €12 million.
Documents show that the Valuation Office based its price on the fact that there was restrictive zoning on the site and a necessity to obtain a change in zoning to facilitate the construction of schools together with the cost of demolishing existing structures.
An internal document from IGB showed that its directors had expressed “disappointment” at Savills’ valuation at a board meeting in March last year. Savills had said that the site could also appeal to parties interested in providing student accommodation or sports clubs as well as a number of semi-state bodies.
The sale of the Harold’s Cross track was one of the key recommendations of the 2014 Indecon report on the future of greyhound racing, which was commissioned by the government because of the deteriorating financial position of IGB. The greyhound board had amassed total debts of €21.3 million by the end of 2016. This was largely linked to the expenditure of €21 million on a project to develop a new stadium in Limerick which never went ahead.
In a letter to Michael Creed, the agriculture minister, in May last year, Seán Brady, the interim IGB chief executive at the time, said that its “enormous” debt level, interest on bank borrowings and repayment on loans was restricting the board from meeting its statutory objectives as a semi-state body.
Dr Brady described the sale of Harold’s Cross as “the key cornerstone for the future viability and planned rebuilding of the greyhound industry”.
He informed the minister that the ability of the board to keep trading was at the discretion of AIB, which had a lien over all the board’s assets.
“The sale of Harold’s Cross is absolutely essential to avoid the IGB becoming insolvent,” Dr Brady said.
He told Mr Creed that the acceptance of the offer from the Department of Education had the potential “to regenerate all elements of the greyhound industry following a decade of decline”.
The Harold’s Cross track first opened in 1928, but racing ceased there in February of last year after the decision by the greyhound board to address its debts, which led to a six-month boycott by trainers and breeders of racing dogs at Shelbourne Park, the only remaining greyhound track left in Dublin.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/government-paid-double-for-harold-s-cross-race-track-kf66nrfwl
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SEE ALSO
Politicians put the value of the Harold's Cross "very substantially less" than the €23 million the government agreed to pay for it
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/1361733047275583
The government's massive bid of €23 million for Harold's Cross greyhound track is being viewed as "a state bailout" for the dying industry
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/photos/a.463548137094083/1314032555378966
Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has approved the payment of €23 million of taxpayers' money for a greyhound track that may be worth as little as €4 million
https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/videos/1342531115862443
ACTION ALERT
Say NO to the greyhound industry - don't attend races or fund-raisers held at greyhound tracks.
Distribute our "6 reasons to say NO to greyhound racing" leaflet outside greyhound tracks to encourage people to show compassion and boycott greyhound racing. You can download the leaflet at http://www.banbloodsports.com/ln170616.htm or order copies by emailing info@banbloodsports.com Encourage your local animal protection groups to join calls for an end to greyhound racing, given the cruelty and killing involved.
The cruel and crumbling greyhound industry has received nearly a quarter of a billion euros of taxpayers' money since 2001 (including €16 million for 2018). Urge Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe to end funding to the greyhound industry and instead direct the money to charities, community groups, animal rescue centres and other deserving causes. Email "Stop funding the cruel greyhound industry" to taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie, leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie, paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie, minister@per.gov.ie
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
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Paschal Donohoe TD
Minister for Finance
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