Calls for Horse Sport Ireland to appear before Oireachtas committee over board turmoil

The national governing body for equestrian sports should be called to appear before the Oireachtas committee on agriculture to answer questions over recent governance controversy facing the organisation, Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy has said.

The majority of the board of Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) has resigned in the last 10 days, following a split over support for its chief executive, Denis Duggan.

Six of the eight members of the organisation’s board have resigned since the start of this month. Four of the six directors who stepped down, including former TD Lucinda Creighton, did so due to a lack of support for the current management of the part State-funded body.

Politicians are now considering calling the organisation to appear before the Oireachtas agriculture committee to answer questions about the recent turmoil.

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Mr Carthy, a member of the committee, on Tuesday wrote to other TDs and Senators proposing both HSI and officials from the Department of Agriculture be invited to a public hearing.

The governing body received more than €5 million in public funding from the department this year, as well as more than €2 million from Sport Ireland.

Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr Carthy said there was now a “cloud hanging over” HSI, which needed to be addressed quickly. He said it would be “difficult” to see how a board with only two remaining members could take any decisions about the strategic direction of the organisation.

The Cavan–Monaghan TD said he would also be pushing for department officials to attend a committee meeting to answer questions, given the significant amount of public funding provided to HSI.

Mr Carthy said that as the board resignations had “the potential to undermine public confidence” in the horse sport sector, he had proposed the committee hearing take place as soon as practically possible.

The raft of resignations followed a controversial board meeting earlier this month, where a majority of directors voted to dismiss the current chief executive, Denis Duggan, who has been in place since the start of this year.

Last month, HSI took legal action over a department decision to award a contract for marketing services promoting the industry to the Irish Horse Board, a membership body for horse breeders. HSI had previously been funded to provide the services and initiated a judicial review in the High Court to overturn the department’s decision.

The Naas-based organisation has now been left with just two directors, chair of the board Joe Reynolds and Edward Doyle.

In a statement, HSI has said Mr Reynolds was liaising with the department “as a matter of urgency” following the recent resignations.

A spokesman for Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said he was now “considering the best course of action in the interest of HSI and the industry as a whole”.