A LEADING traditional-Irish music shop has admitted that some of the bodhrans it sells are made from greyhound skin.

Custy’s Traditional Music Shop in Ennis, Co Clare insists that Irish dogs have not been used in the making of the drums. Its manager also claims every Irish tourist shop sells bodhrans made from greyhound skin.

Top-quality bodhrans are still made by hand in Ireland but most of the cheaper ones bought by tourists are imported from Pakistan.

John O’Connor, manager of Custy’s, said: “We sell greyhound, but the majority of our bodhrans are sourced locally and made from goat or calf skin. In every tourist shop you go into, those mass-produced bodhrans would be from the subcontinent and would generally be greyhound or some other poor-quality skin.”

O’Connor, who says he is a dog lover, has no qualms about stocking bodhrans made from greyhound hide. “I mean, where do you stop with diet and clothing choice? You’d have to ask how humanely can an animal be put down or is it humane to bring up an animal for slaughter? If we go down that road we’d all be living on grass.”

Waltons Music, in Dublin, is the biggest supplier of bodhrans in Ireland. As well as exporting them, it also supplies the tourist and football-fan markets through outlets such as Carroll’s Irish Gift stores in Dublin. Last year, Carroll’s estimates, it sold more than 5,000.

Niall Walton, managing director of Waltons, disputed O’Connor’s claim. Waltons moved its bodhran manufacturing facility from Athy to Pakistan three years ago because of lower costs and the availability of goats.

“I have never seen or heard of any skin other than goat being used to make bodhrans,” said Walton.

Greyhound racing takes place on a small scale in Pakistan, mainly through hare coursing and point-to-point. Ireland is the leading greyhound producing country in Europe with 24,000 registered dogs born every year.

Bernie Wright, head of Dog Rescue Ireland, said she was disgusted that greyhound skins could be used to make bodhrans. “I don’t think they should be selling them if they are made from greyhounds,” said Wright.

Other Irish bodhran makers claimed greyhound bodhrans were an urban myth. One said: “I remember one of The Fureys telling me he’d had a greyhound bodhran but it dropped out the back of the van and rolled down a hill chasing a hare.”

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