SJI seek legal advice on Millstreet sanctions
The sanctions were discussed by the SJI national executive on Thursday night.
Yesterday, chairman Ronan Corrigan said it was essential proper procedures are followed.
“A majority decision was made with regard to fines/sanctions to be imposed on those officials and members who participated at Millstreet. This has been sent to the SJI legal representative to examine. We felt this was necessary to ensure proper procedure was followed and that all members’ rights were protected. We should have a response from our solicitor on Monday,” said Corrigan.
“We have evidence of a couple of hundred names of members and officials that participated at Millstreet and they, subject to getting the go-ahead from our legal representative, will be receiving correspondence on the matter in due course,” he said.
Corrigan stressed, however, that members will have the right of appeal.
The SJI sanctions come after Millstreet staged what it termed an “independent” show last month following a dispute with the SJI regarding the adequacy of the association’s insurance cover.
The SJI had warned that SJI members and officials participating at Millstreet would be penalised as per its rules regarding unaffiliated shows.
Equestrian centres staging SJI-affiliated shows recently set up a representative group whose primary aim is to seek clarity on the insurance issue.
Other centres have agreed with Millstreet’s contention that the SJI insurance cover is deficient.
Corrigan had previously said in this newspaper that such centres needed to have their own insurance to cover unforeseen eventualities.
Regarding the sanctions, Corrigan said that if any member breached the rule three times, a 14-day suspension would apply, plus a fine of €300. He emphasised that every time a rider competed a horse it amounted to a single breach of the rule.
However, he declined to comment on the level of sanction if the rule was breached more than three times.
The Kildare man also said that any suspension it imposes will apply to SJI membership and accordingly sanctioned riders may not be able to compete abroad. SJI is an affiliate of Horse Sport Ireland and Corrigan said he expected that body to uphold any sanctions applied by SJI.
“Suspension applies to membership. All rights and privileges are removed, including the right to have an international licence. While HSI issues the international licence, every application for such a licence must be signed off by SJI,” he said.
HSI Rule 2.2 states that “each athlete must be a full paid up or subscribed member of the relevant affiliate... to hold an international licence”.
Millstreet proprietor Noel C Duggan meanwhile again queried why those who compete in the unaffiliated national competitions at the Dublin Horse Show were not equally being pursued.
Thursday night’s meeting was the last scheduled gathering of the SJI national executive prior to the organisation’s AGM on September 21.
Corrigan also revealed that a motion had been put forward to extend, from three to five years, the maximum period during which any person can hold the post of chairman.
Corrigan has held the post for three years and asked if he would be putting his name forward to remain for another two years, subject to the change being ratified by members, he said: “It doesn’t fit into my plans to stay on any longer and, while at this stage I would not rule it out, I have committed to other projects.”
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