SJI conduct review of dealings with HSI
It comes as HSI has organised meetings next week with its affiliates to discuss plans for 2011.
Corrigan said yesterday: “We wrote to other FEI affiliates to say we were carrying out a review of how SJI interacts with HSI. We did not get a huge response, but we went ahead and are conducting the review, nonetheless. We need to get clarity as to what our members feel they should be getting through our dealings with HSI.”
Next week’s meetings have taken on even greater significance in light of the country’s parlous economic state and Corrigan says the SJI’s funding of international participation will be a major topic of discussion.
Previously, Corrigan wrote to HSI chairman Joe Walsh seeking a review of SJI’s input into international participation, as its current three-year deal comes to a close. This year, SJI paid €250,000 to HSI, with €225,000 paid in 2009 and €200,000 in 2008.
Corrigan said: “An issue for the SJI is the amount of money it pays towards international participation. This is a major concern, considering the current economic climate. Regardless of the level of funding provided by SJI, it can be expected that the Government will reduce its support for equestrian sport. Accordingly, it must be asked to what level HSI will be able to fund international participation next year.”
HSI chief executive Damian McDonald said the meetings were routine: “We want to discuss the affiliates’ priorities for 2011 and have already met some. Obviously, there are funding challenges, which must be addressed. We will be making the best possible case to the Sports Council, but, like all organisations, we are concerned there will be cuts and we want to get a sense of the affiliates’ priorities. Medication and anti-doping, along with disciplinary structures, will also be discussed and we want to look at a national anti-doping programme, run by HSI, which all the affiliates can participate in.”
Eventing Ireland chairman John Wright welcomed the meetings with HSI, but said he only found out about them on Tuesday and, as such, could not guarantee attendance next week.
“We look forward to holding a review meeting with Horse Sport Ireland, but the agenda needs to be discussed beforehand with the Eventing Ireland board. Considering the very short notice, it could, though, prove difficult to meet HSI next week.
“Also, these meetings will provide an opportunity to assess how HSI – apart from its role as national federation – is benefiting the sector. Such a review was envisaged when HSI was first being mooted a number of years ago.”
Meanwhile, Corrigan said the SJI would record a surplus in its accounts this year, which he said would go towards easing the burden on members.
“We are reducing the cost of membership for 2011 and also show authorisation fees, while about €5 will be taken off across the board for registrations of horses and ponies. We are also, for the first time, providing family discount packages and multiple horse and pony registration discount packages. We look like we are going to have a healthy surplus this year, about €70,000, which is more than double that of last year, and we always said we would deliver back to the members as soon as this happened. The surplus is as a result of the organisation being run more cost-effectively,” said Corrigan.
lTHE Irish Show Jumping Centres Group (ISJCG) is to source group insurance for its members.
This follows its inaugural meeting on Tuesday, where members were informed that they could expect a rise in individuals’ premia, after it was accepted that the ShowjumpingIreland (SJI) insurance provided only partial cover for SJI-affiliated shows at centres.
ISJCG chairperson, Anne Waistell, explained that it was vital that centres had their own protection in place for affiliated shows and that they informed their insurance providers when shows were taking place.
“Centres pay the SJI for insurance on a per-day basis when they are running affiliated shows. This is included in the fees paid by centres for authorisation, which states that centres are obliged to use SJI insurance. We understood that SJI affiliated shows were fully covered by SJI insurance.
“However, following investigation, we are satisfied that, while SJI members are covered, the SJI insurance does not provide centres with full indemnity. We are paying the SJI for a full policy and only now are we aware that we are not getting what we are paying for,” said Waistell, of Ballyrafter Centre, in Lismore, Co Waterford.
“We, for example, never gave our own insurance company any notice of SJI shows, as we were under the assumption we were covered by the SJI. So, with the changed situation, commercial centres can expect their own insurance premiums to increase. As a result, we have proposed that the ISJCG will seek group insurance for centres.”
Insurance has been at the centre of a bitter dispute between the SJI and Millstreet’s Noel C Duggan, culminating in the Green Glens proprietor staging an “independent” show in August, when large numbers of SJI members defied the threat of sanction to participate.
SJI chairman Ronan Corrigan yesterday concurred with the ISJCG’s assessment that centres required their own insurance cover, even as the SJI provided full “hold harmless” cover for non-commercial centres.
“Our brokers went to the market and three different insurance companies responded, but none would consider blanket insurance for commercial centres. In saying that, we still maintain that SJI provides the best insurance cover available to the equestrian sporting sector in Ireland. We have the “hold harmless” for shows run on a voluntary basis. However, insurance companies argue that professional/commercial outfits, should also have their own insurance and that they should be satisfied that their premises are fit and safe for the purpose of the activities that are being held there. SJI insurance covers all SJI activities that take place in those venues during authorised events.”
lBILLY TWOMEY’S fifth place in last weekend’s World Cup qualifier in Verona, Italy, has seen him replace Jessica Kürten as the leading Irish rider on the Western European League. The Corkman now stands in 20th place on 12 points.
World Cup action continues this weekend on both sides of the Atlantic, with Dermott Lennon and US-based Irish riders Shane Sweetnam and Darragh Kenny lining out in Toronto, Canada.
In Lezsno, Poland, Eddie Moloney lines out in the company of Army rider Capt David O’Brien as part of the Central European League.
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