The existing chairman, Paschal Taggart, last week signalled that he would step down from the board within 12 months. Taggart's immediate future at Bord na gCon is still in doubt this weekend ahead of the imminent publication of the Dalton report into the running of the greyhound body.

Taggart continues to insist that his position has not been damaged and that the report vindicates his stance on the sacking of former chief executive Aidan Tynan.

Dalton's report makes hard-hitting recommendations concerning the operation of Bord na gCon, particularly its relationship with the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. Sources in political circles and the greyhound industry believe that Joe Walsh, who has announced his retirement from politics at the next general election, is the man whom minister John O'Donoghue wants to deliver on the findings of the Dalton report.

Walsh has a long-standing interest in dog racing.

At one stage, his wife Marie and Minister O'Donoghue's wife, Kate Ann, both had a share in the same greyhound. The dog, called 'Zero Tolerance', was owned by a syndicate.

The Cork South-West TD also previously had ministerial responsibility for Bord na gCon while it was under the remit of the Department of Agriculture, where he served as a minister for 15 years . . . a decade as senior minister and a five-year spell before that as junior minister in Charlie Haughey's governments. While he did not have a particularly high profile as a minister, he is seen as a solid performer and a safe pair of hands, as demonstrated in his assured handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis in 2001.

Walsh's appointment would be widely welcomed in the greyhound industry because of his role, when he was minister, in persuading then finance minister Charlie McCreevy to scrap betting tax.

It is thought unlikely that Walsh will take up any role at Bord na gCon while he is still a TD. But with a general election at most 12 months away, it is believed he has been earmarked for the chairman's position once he formally stands down from the Dail.

After a delay of several weeks, it is expected that O'Donoghue will publish the Dalton Report within the next fortnight. The minister made clear his annoyance last week at the leaking of the conclusions of the report. A spokesman for O'Donoghue said the minister would not be making any comment on Bord na gCon or any of the issues raised in media coverage of the Dalton report before its publication, as he wanted due process to be followed.

O'Donoghue 'annoyed' over leaks Despite the minister's request that all parties avoid comment on the issues raised in the unpublished report, an embattled Taggart appeared on last Thursday night's Prime Time on RTE One to robustly defend his position. While relations between O'Donoghue and Taggart are publicly said to be good, it is believed the minister was annoyed that his request for a media blackout from all concerned parties was ignored.

In February, when the controversy began, Taggart also resisted overtures from O'Donoghue not to hold a press conference, during which he strongly defended the decision not to publish results of positive EPO tests against two leading greyhound trainers. He also argued that a letter written by Aidan Tynan to O'Donoghue . . . revealing information about the drug tests . . . was not a factor in the decision to remove Tynan from his role as chief executive.

The Dalton report did say that relations between Tynan and the board had deteriorated during the latter half of 2005 and that it would "wrong to suggest" that Tynan's dismissal could be solely attributed to his decision to write to the minister.

But, crucially, it also concluded that Tynan's letter to the minister "almost certainly hastened the board's decision to dismiss him".

It emerged last week on RTE's Liveline programme that Taggart still has an interest in greyhounds, registered in the names of his children.

This includes a dog, 'Antrim Classic', which was trained by Paul Hennessy, one of the two trainers at the centre of the doping controversy.

Defending his ongoing interest in greyhounds, Taggart said: "I have them in my children's names, as had every other chairman before me. I personally don't see any conflict of interest there. If Bord na gCon had an adjudication on 'Antrim Classic' then I would have totally excluded myself. . .

I wouldn't have taken the job if I wasn't allowed to race greyhounds."