Almost €7 million of public funding, that’s what has been and arguably still is at risk for the sport horse sector.

As the first layer of dust settles on the Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) boardroom turmoil of the last two weeks, it’s hard not to feel for the 52 employees who have taken a battering for the last couple of years at the organisation: boardroom level always filters down.

Documents leaked to The Irish Times detailed colossal costs for settling severance and HR issues, €650,000 to pin it down. Plus the €750,000 reported legal fees.

Documents show HSI spent €475,000 settling a single severance case with a senior employee who left in the last 18 months (that included €200,000 in legal costs and a pay out).

Rotten

It’s easy to get the feeling things have been rotten in Denmark for quite some time. The question we are all asking is why and how?

The official line from the now former chairman of Horse Sport Ireland, Joe Reynolds, was ‘deep divisions’ at Board level in relation to a wide range of core issues, some of which were apparently ‘personality driven’ and others were linked to ‘historic issues’ within some affiliated groups.

Those in the industry can only take a guess at who perhaps.

This week, we are getting a chance to digest just what has gone on, and who will be in charge of our money going forward. The resignation of the entire Board at HSI has put shivers up most of us involved in sport horses at all levels.

The mess has been mopped up for now (until the next Olympics we’re told) and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue has appointed an experienced board with credentials in academia, the corporate world and civil service.

Denis Duggan, CEO of HSI, is to remain in his position. McConalogue said: “Given the board have resigned, I have asked Mr Michael Dowling, former chair of Kerry Group PLC, to step in as chair for that period.

He will be joined by Professor Niamh Brennan, Professor of Management and Corporate Governance at UCD, Ms Zoe Kavanagh, Chief Executive Officer of the National Dairy Council, and Dr Kevin Smyth, former Chief Financial Officer at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.”

Heavy hitters indeed, no direct equine experience though, I will always feel that is a bit of a problem, but more than delighted to be proved wrong.

Social Media

There are calls across social media for change in Horse Sport Ireland management. People are being encouraged to speak up, send an email or make noise if they feel the same way.

But it seems as if there will be no further changes in personnel for a while.

Minister McConalogue stated: “The sport horse sector is enormously important to Ireland, from a sporting, economic and cultural perspective…we are the envy of the world when it comes to producing top-class horses. Recent results by our high-performance teams on the global stage show the calibre of our sector internationally.”

Thanks Charlie, well said. So we’ll get on with our job as breeders, producers, riders and coaches, if Horse Sport Ireland gets on with its job to support us, yeah?