Four board members in place during financial scandal still directors of IHRB
The IHRB offices at the Curragh Racecourse. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
A Dáil Committee yesterday questioned how confidence could be restored in the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) after another extraordinary revelation by racing’s oversight body.
It emerged that four board members – who were in place at the IHRB as it oversaw a misappropriation of funds in the organisation – remain in their positions today.
The four, who make up half of the current board, were in place when a controversial retirement payment was made to a former CEO in 2021, and subsequently when €350,000 was taken by the IHRB from an injured jockeys fund.
At a hearing of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on Wednesday evening, the IHRB was repeatedly asked about the board members still in situ at the organisation.
It was also asked a number of times if there were any sanctions against anyone at the IHRB who were there during the scandal and remain there today.
The meeting between the IHRB and the Joint Committee was the third such hearing which tried to get to the bottom of a “grave” financial matter which was first revealed ahead of a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing in June 2023.
On Tuesday, a long running investigation into the saga by Forvis Mazars found that a €350,000 transfer from the Jockeys’ Emergency Fund (JEF) to the IHRB had breached the Charities Act, when the money was taken from the charity and placed in the regulatory board’s accounts.
That money was eventually returned to the JEF three months later.
However, its removal from a fund which supports some of the most vulnerable members of the Irish racing industry continues to be a source of great discomfort for the IHRB and for Horse Racing Ireland, which funds the regulatory body.
The then chief financial officer Donal O’Shea who was in charge of the transaction, since took voluntary leave before resigning from his role earlier this year.
At the centre of the issue was a payment to former chief executive Denis Egan, who received a golden handshake retirement payoff of €384,879 upon leaving the organisation, an amount that was €141k more than he was due under the terms of the scheme.
The Mazars report said this week that the €350,000 transfer from the JEF did not have “specific approval” from the IHRB Board.
It added: “We consider that the IHRB Board and executive should have foreseen potential cashflow challenges arising on foot of making redundancy and retirement payments in the absence of corresponding funding being received.”
At the Joint Committee hearing, on Wednesday, CEO Darragh O’Loughlin was asked by Senator Tim Lombard: “There’s still four of those directors that were there in 2021, still in place, am I right?” Senator Lombard interjected as Mr O’Loughlin tried to explain how directors were rotated on and off the board.
“There’s still four that are in place. There’s four individuals on that board that believed that this was appropriate, I am right in making that analogy?” The CEO of IHRB responded that he “can’t speak for what they believe now, but it is in the report that at the time they made the decision that it was in the best interests of racing”.
The chief executive was then asked if the board members have since commented publicly or privately about what might be in the best interests of horseracing, to which he said he wasn’t aware of public comments being made.
“I do think there’s confidence required in the system, I think the confidence comes from the leadership and if you have four members on that board (that were there at that time) I would just question how we can have confidence in the actual set-up at that stage.”
While this was the most detail that has emerged publicly since the scandal erupted, there was a strong feeling from a number of committee members that the situation remained unsatisfactory.
Earlier in the hearing Mr O’Loughlin was asked: “How many people are still there that decided to give a package without the go-ahead from HRI and are still on the board, or was there any sanctions?”
The CEO confirmed: “There were no sanctions for any director on the board. Of the board that was in place at that time there are four member who are still on the board and there are four current directors who were not on the board in 2021.”
When the issue of accountability arose, the IHRB were asked by Deputy Joe Flaherty, a racehorse owner and director at Kilbeggan Racecourse: “Did any heads roll over this? It doesn’t wash for me, to be honest.”
