TWO DIRECTORS have been appointed to the board of the Irish National Stud (INS) by Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith following consultation with Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Smith confirmed his intention to make four other appointments to the board very shortly.
Demands the INS be summoned before an Oireachtas committee to explain its “Fás-like expenses regime” were made earlier this week when it emerged €800,000 had been paid by the stud for its chief executive’s expenses over an eight-year period.
Figures released to The Irish Timesunder the Freedom of Information Acts showed the semi-State company paid € 800,000 in expenses for flights, travel and accommodation for John Clarke and his wife, Monica, between January 2002 and January 2010.
The Clarkes had 40 trips together over the eight-year period. Ms Clarke’s expenses came to almost € 100,000, while Mr Clarke’s expenses came to €700,000 . The company also paid € 134,000 on bills related to Tully House, in which the couple lived. An Irish National Stud spokeswoman said the role of the chief executive included representation of the stud worldwide and as such entailed considerable travel.
Fine Gael’s Michael Creed and Labour’s Seán Sherlock, both members of the agriculture committee, said they would request that representatives of the stud appear before the committee to explain the expenditure.
Mr Sherlock said representatives of the stud should be brought before the committee to explain their “Fás-like expenses regime” and to answer questions in relation to expenditure and corporate governance as well as on the management and treatment of personnel.
The two new board directors are Dr Seán Brady, former chief executive and interim chief executive of the Dairy Board and Jessica Harrington who is a highly regarded and successful national hunt and flat race horse trainer.
His statement said he had stressed to the new and remaining directors the need to continue to maintain a clear focus on governance issues and the need to ensure that the provisions of the revised and updated Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies continue to be strictly applied.