Horse Sport Ireland lodges O’Connor appeal

Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) has lodged an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the debacle at last month’s European Championships that saw Cian O’Connor impeded in his round and Ireland denied a place in next year’s Olympics.

It comes after the Federation Equestre Internationale told HSI that, in line with its regulations, “it is of the view that an appeal in this case is not admissible”, an FEI spokesperson said yesterday.

Accordingly, HSI has lodged an appeal with CAS and it said it had set up an advisory committee that includes solicitor Philip O’Connor a former member of the FEI Tribunal. A spokesman said: “We have set up a legal advisory committee to help us with the case. The committee includes lawyers who are involved in the industry including Senior Counsel Martin Hayden, solicitor Joe Fitzpatrick and solicitor Philip O’Connor, who is a former member of the FEI tribunal.”