Transfer of €350,000 from jockey charity account to IHRB ‘an isolated incident’, committee to hear

On Thursday, representatives from Horseracing Ireland and the IHRB will appear before the Public Accounts Committee where the “financial governance matter” will be discussed.

Last year, a “bombshell” was dropped at the PAC hearing when it emerged a “financial matter” had been identified at the organisation.

During that committee meeting in June 2023, members were told the chief financial officer of IHRB Donal O’Shea was “on a voluntary period of leave” and did not appear before the committee with IHRB colleagues at that time.

In his opening statement, Darragh O’Loughlin, CEO of IHRB will tell committee members the board became aware on June 28 last year of “an issue relating to financial governance” which happened 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,” Mr O’Loughlin will tell the committee.

However, the CEO says the transaction was “reversed in April 2022”.

The Jockeys Emergency Fund is a registered charity that supports jockeys who suffer permanent total paralysis due to an injury while taking part in a race.

Mr O’Loughlin says this issue was immediately disclosed to the Minister for Agriculture, as well as the Comptroller and Auditor General and to Horse Racing Ireland (HRI).

The audit firm Mazars was hired by the IHRB to undertake “an independent review of this and other financial governance matters”, Mr O’Loughlin will tell the committee.

The investigation began in August 2023 and Mazars looked at six years’ worth of finances as well as other records and interviewed relevant individuals.

“Pending receipt of the Mazars report, the auditors examined banking transactions for the financial year 2022 and confirmed that the highlighted transfer of €350,000 was an isolated incident,” according to Mr O’Loughlin’s opening statement.

The final report is expected to be delivered by Mazars soon and Mr O’Loughlin says it is the intention of the IHRB’s directors to publish its findings.

While Mr O’Loughlin says the recommendations will be acted on, “formal agreements are being put in place between IHRB and the various charitable and non-profit entities for which administrative support is provided”.

This will involve strict transaction approval controls and the segregation of access to accounts.

Representatives from HRI will also come before PAC tomorrow.

In her opening statement, Suzanne Eade, Chief Executive of HRI will tell the committee that the organisation was “deeply disgusted and appalled” by the abuse of horses documented by RTÉ’s Prime Time.

“The behaviour depicted was abhorrent and is absolutely not the experience of those working directly in the Irish horse racing and breeding industry.

“We welcome the swift response from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

“We will fully support any Gardai and Department of Agriculture investigation, and we eagerly await their conclusion,” Ms Eade will say in her opening statement.