Charity transfer to horseracing body ‘isolated incident’

The head of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has insisted that a large transfer it received from a charity – which he previously described as “a bombshell” and a matter “of grave concern” – was an “isolated incident”.

In January 2022, the board’s bank account received a transfer of €350,000 from a charity, the Jockeys Emergency Fund. It was repaid after three months. Details of the transfer came to light last year.

CEO Darragh O’Loughlin told PAC that, once the transfer was discovered, the board hired Mazars to conduct “an independent review of this and other financial governance matters”, and who are due to submit a final report “shortly”.

The consultancy firm began its “detailed scrutiny” of financial and other records spanning six years last August.

Mr O’Loughlin said that the report “will be published and the recommendations will be acted on”.

“Pending receipt of the Mazars report, the auditors examined banking transactions for the financial year 2022 which confirmed that the highlighted transfer of €350,000 was an isolated incident,” he said.

The Jockey’s Emergency Fund is a registered charity which provides support to jockeys who are injured and suffer paralysis.

When Mr O’Loughlin last spoke to the committee a year ago, he flagged the “hitherto unknown issue”, of which he had just become aware, describing it as “a bombshell” and a matter “of grave concern”.

In his opening statement today, Mr O’Loughlin said that on 28 June 2023 he became aware of “an issue relating to financial governance” which occurred early in 2022.

“The issue concerned a transfer of €350,000 which was made in January 2022 from the Jockeys Emergency Fund, a charity bank account administered by the IHRB, to the IHRB’s bank account.”

The transaction was “reversed in April 2022”, he added.

To ensure such a transfer cannot happen again, he noted that “formal agreements are being put in place between IHRB and the various charitable and non-profit entities for which administrative support is provided”.

In his opening remarks, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) noted that concerns first arose in June 2023 over the transaction, and that a review was still underway when he compiled his audit in April.

Mr O’Loughlin said that the IHRB chief financial officer remains on leave and is unavailable.

Committee chair Brian Stanley said that there was no show from the CFO twelve months ago – and there’s no show again today.

Mr O’Loughlin said that the CFO is “on pay” but cannot give details of the nature of the leave as that is personal information.

Mr Stanley that this is “very unsatisfactory”.

HRI ‘appalled’ by RTÉ equine abattoir revelations

Horse Racing Ireland said it was “deeply disgusted and appalled” about the abuse of horses which was uncovered by RTÉ Investigates.

The organisation’s chief executive said: “The behaviour depicted was abhorrent and is absolutely not the experience of those working directly in the Irish horse racing and breeding industry.”

Speaking at the Public Accounts Committee, Suzanne Eade added that she welcomed the “swift response” from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

“We will fully support any garda and Department of Agriculture investigation, and we eagerly await their conclusion.

“The topic of traceability was also covered in the RTÉ Investigates programme, and meaningful progress has been made over the last number of years,” Ms Eade said.

Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon said that “all of us have been deeply disturbed” by the revelations and asked which agency is responsible for equine safety.

“Your role specifically is during the racing career of the animal. Once that concludes, IHRB has no further role in terms of equine welfare?” he asked Mr O’Loughlin, who agreed that that is what the legislation dictates.

John Osborne, head of the HRI Equine Welfare Department, said that: “Take the old slogan about, you know, a puppy is for life, not just for Christmas.”

“In the horse situation, you know, the responsibility for care on the day-to-day basis is the owner’s responsibility”.

Mr Cannon said that Mr Osborne appeared to be “trying to push this at arm’s length away” from the HRI, whereas he thought that welfare would be HRI’s responsibility.

Michael Sheahan of the Department of Agriculture was asked to clarify the matter and said that “ultimately” the department has “overall policy repsonsibility” for policy and oversight of animal welfare.