IRGT/IGB Legislation Breach

Following the recent IGS article on the

  contradictions of the Irish Retired Greyhound Trust income, for 2014, 2015, and 2016,

  our research into the IRGT(registered as a Private Charitable Trust)2017
accounts threw up yet another contradiction

 - and a breach of the Charities Act 2009.

After the IGS publication of the IRGT Annual Reports - published by the Charities Regulator - and after the Charities Regulator renewed its website, the IRGT Annual Reports are now no longer made available to the public. The CR's Board Na gCon Retired Greyhound Trust page states that private charitable trust documents are not published.

IGS wrote to the CR to ask why this is now the case. They informed us, in their reply, that under section 54 of the Charities Act 2009 private charitable trusts are exempt from making their accounts available to the public.

 Under this Act a “private charitable trust”

 means a charitable trust that is not funded by donations from the public.

• On the Irish Greyhound Board website - on greyhound adoption - the IGB welcome donations, due to limited funding.
• The message of welcoming donations is repeated on the IRGT website, a donate button also included. 
• The public can also donate to the IRGT via the iDonate website.
• A recent article on the IGB website shows how €1,839.52 was recently raised for the IRGT, by donations from the public.
• A member of the public can even buy a 2019 Calendar to help raise funds for the IRGT.

It seems that the IRGT - operated and supported by the IGB - does indeed accept donations from the public and therefore the non-publication of its Annual Reports must be a breach of section 54 of the Charities Act 2009.

Of course, this is not the first time the IGB have been involved in breaches of Legislation:

•  The constant and continued breach of the Welfare of Greyhounds Act 2011 section 10 : Transfer of Ownership which allows for the traceability of greyhounds
• For nine years greyhounds were illegally bred/registered/raced under the Artificial Insemination of Greyhounds Regulations 2005 
•  IGS also uncovered breaches of the Welfare of Greyhounds Act 2011 section 11: Restrictions on Breeding for female greyhounds - including Dalcash Diva having nine litters.

Despite such breaches of Legislation, and many other ongoing issues of serious concern,
 the Government hand-outs for the greyhound industry 

continue to rise obscenely - €16.8m for 2109.

Taking the total Government subsidies to the industry to €132,400,000

(€132 M, 400 Thousand) 

for the years 2010 to 2019

Plus an extra €23m from the Government in their purchase of the Harrolds Cross track - to help the IGB wipe their debt of €23m.

UPDATE June 2019

Since IGS researched and published concerns of the IGB/IRGT being in breach of the Charities Act 2009(for taking public donations while being registered as a Private Charitable Trust - not having to disclose to the public it's financial documents)in Oct 2018, the IGB/IRGT websites have now removed any references to asking the public for donations.

Although there is still one site running and taking donations for the IGB-run IRGT - even giving information about how it funds a rescue despite that rescue no longer running, and IGB Welfare Manager/IRGT Secretary recently ran a fundraiser asking the public to donate.

UPDATE 30th July 2019

The IRGT have now changed their charitable status from Private Charitable Trust to Trust.
This means they can now legally accept public donations and are now responsible for publishing their
financial accounts - through the Charities Regulator website.
It remains to be seen if any action will be taken by the Charities Regulator against the IGB/IRGT for
their previous breach of the Charities Act 2009.