Genesis to assist in new HSI strategy

HORSE Sport Ireland (HSI) has commissioned management consultancy group Genesis to assist it in drawing up a strategic plan for the industry.

The three-to-five-year plan will be compiled in four phases over the next four to five months, with Genesis working alongside a management team set up by HSI.

It is planned that by phase three, a draft plan would be published on the HSI website for viewing and comments. A copy will also be submitted to the Irish Sports Council, the Department of Sport and the Department of Agriculture.

HSI chief executive Damian McDonald yesterday said Genesis would meet its affiliates, sub-boards and interested parties over the next few months. He also said advertisements would be put in the equestrian media seeking submissions from the public and that it was envisaged the board would approve the plan “some time in the middle of the year”.

Mr McDonald would not divulge the cost of employing Genesis, but said: “We must have a strategic plan and have it done right, in a structured way. Basically, we tendered for it and are happy enough we got a competitive price.”

Horse Sport Ireland was installed as the governing body for the sport horse industry in January, when the Equestrian Federation of Ireland and the Irish Horse Board were subsumed into it, bringing the sporting, breeding and leisure sides of the industry together for the first time under one umbrella.

Genesis earned a place in the Irish sporting psyche when it compiled its eponymous report for the FAI following the debacle that ensued at Saipan during the 2002 World Cup.