Speculation of financial difficulties at HSI dismissed

Speculation of financial difficulties at Horse Sport Ireland is “wide of the mark”, according to the Irish Sports Council (ISC), writes John Tynan

The suggestion that things are not quite right at HSI comes as an audit into State funding for the governing body is still to be finalised more than nine months after it was initiated by the ISC as a result of correspondence to the Public Accounts Committee.

Yesterday, Paul McDermott, director of high performance, NGBs, and communications at the ISC, said that while the audit was available in “draft form”, he had not read it, but any suggestion of financial difficulties at HSI was inaccurate.

“From what I understand, that is wide of the mark,” said McDermott. “As far as I know, the audit is in draft form and still to be finally agreed. It may be that the audit drifted away from the core task, which is the cause for delay. It’s a big document, I’m not sure that it is very dramatic, but I haven’t read it.

“It must be stressed that this audit is standard practice and is looking at processes. I appreciate it has taken much longer than anticipated to complete, but it has turned out to be more complex than originally anticipated,” said McDermott, who added it was “unlikely” the Deloitte report would “see the light of day” before Christmas.

Horse Sport Ireland chairman Pat Wall was also categorical yesterday in rejecting any suggestion of financial difficulties.

“There are no scandals at our end. We haven’t been told of any problems and we are as anxious to see the final report as anyone else.

“We would hope that the Deloitte audit would be published as soon as possible and, to be open and transparent, for it to be made available to the public.

“All the money we get in from the Sports Council we allocate as widely as possible.

“However, we have more people seeking funds than we have funds to allocate. As such, I would like that the audit would highlight that we deserve to have more funding.”

Wall’s frustration was evident and understandable, as he conceded he had led the board to believe that the audit - which was initiated by the Sports Council following correspondence to the Public Accounts Committee from Thomas Duggan of Millstreet - would be completed months ago.

In fact, according to the HSI briefing notes, its director of finance Mark Bolger updated the board at its September meeting, saying: “It was anticipated that it would be another few weeks before the final report would be issued. The primary cause of the delay was because Deloitte were engaging with recipients of the ISC international hosting grants to seek their views.”

A spokesperson for the Public Accounts Committee last night said: “The issue raised here is one for Horse Sport Ireland and the National Sports Council. The issue arose in the context of a complaint made to the PAC by a member of the public. In order to deal with this complaint and to ensure transparency in the award of monies by Horse Sport Ireland, it was proposed by the Sports Council that an audit would be undertaken. The PAC does not have an oversight role in respect of this issue. Importantly, Horse Sport Ireland does not come within the remit of the PAC. It is a governing body of sport that deals with the State through the Sports Council.”

HSI accounts for the the year-ending 2014 showed it had €373,516 in net funds, having made a loss of €100,823 for the financial year.

• Show jumper Bertram Allen has moved up one place to sixth in the Longines World Rankings.

His drive up the rankings was helped by a remarkable display last weekend, when he won three Volkswagen cars at the four-star show in Stockholm, Sweden.

For good measure, his 14-year-old brother Harry also scored a double with Wild Thing L in the children on horses classes at Lichtenvoorde in the Netherlands. Allen senior has collected five cars this year, keeping a Mercedes, giving another car to his groom, while he plans to sell his latest fleet, though he admitted “I’m getting plenty of offers to take this weekend’s three cars off my hands”.

He will be aiming to further accelerate up the world rankings this weekend when he lines out at the Paris Masters, but next week also sees him in action in Geneva, Switzerland, where he competes in the Rolex International Jumping Riders Club (IJRC) Top 10 Final on Friday, and the Rolex Grand Prix.

Allen is followed in the world rankings by Tipperary’s Denis Lynch, who slipped six places to 27th, but Down’s Conor Swail is also on the up, rising six places to 31st, as he moves towards achieving his goal of joining Allen in the top 10.

Swail was on fire at the Palm Beach Equestrian Centre in Florida last weekend, winning $212,000 Holiday & Horses Grand Prix with Viva Colombia, following up on Sunday with victory in a $34,000 class, bringing his FEI-class tally of wins to 24 for the year.

He conceded a place in the world top 10 is a big ask.

“I’d really like to get into the top ten in the world. It’s a pretty big goal, but I’m 37 now and feel like that’s where I need to be. I know that what I need to do is get a few bigger grand prix wins this year. I think I have enough ranking class wins, and it’s time to focus on getting good results in those bigger classes. I don’t think I could have had a better start than tonight,” he said. “I want to focus on improving those results so that’s kind of what the main goal is right now. We have some very nice horses, and we’re looking forward to another great go at it this season.”

The world rankings see US-based Darragh Kenny in 59th place. Meath’s Cian O’Connor has improved to 66th place, while Billy Twomey is in 91st, two places ahead of his fellow Corkonian Shane Sweetnam.

The current world No1 is Britain’s Scott Brash, with the USA’s Kent Farrington in second place, and France’s Pénélope Leprevost in third.

• FEI President Ingmar De Vos yesterday conceded riders can compete in next year’s nations-cup-style Global Champions League without fear of sanction, as the governing body agreed to comply with a decision of the Belgian Competition Authority.

However, de Vos reiterated that the FEI’s position on the league remains unchanged and that the FEI will continue to fight the decision of the Belgian Authority with all legal means.

“The GCL is still an unsanctioned event which is not approved by the FEI and we are still seeking a full annulment of the decision”, De Vos said.

“As the international governing body, we of course have to respect the decision of the court and have complied with the BCA ruling to publish a statement declaring that, as an interim measure, athletes and horses competing in the GCL events will not be sanctioned. But I want to make it absolutely clear, these are only interim measures which we will continue to fight and that no decision has yet been taken on the merits of the case.

“Some people are trying to create confusion about this case and the position of the FEI, but let me be very clear, our position has not changed. We will fight to defend the principle of unsanctioned events and, once this rule is upheld, it will be applied immediately.”

The FEI appealed the original Belgian Competition Authority decision, but lost. Now it is closely watching a European Commission anti-trust investigation into International Skating Union (ISU) rules that impose a lifetime ban from competitions, including the Olympic Games and the ISU World and European Championships, on athletes that take part in events not approved by the ISU.