‘Embarrassing’ failures in horse welfare and finance exposed at Public Accounts committee
Irish O’loughlin Photos Public To Pic: Mittee Attend Ceo Board Regulatory Arriving Horseracing Leinster Accounts At The Darragh Boal/collins House Sam
A Public Accounts Committee appearance by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) and the Department of Agriculture has plunged the reputation of Ireland’s equine industry into deepening crisis.
In a sometimes extraordinary Oireachtas hearing, the IHRB refused to reveal why it moved €350k from an injured jockeys' charity into its own accounts, while both HRI and the Department offering no credible answers as to how an unlawful slaughterhouse was free to operate despite numerous complaints and a conviction for animal cruelty.
It was also revealed that the Chief Financial Officer at the IHRB continues to be paid in full despite being on leave from the organisation “just shy of one year”, following finance allegations made in June 2023.
And it was heard that it is “going to be difficult” for the Curragh racecourse to turn a profit for many years to come despite €45m in public money spent on the facility.
Perhaps the most remarkable financial findings from the PAC hearing at the Oireachtas on Thursday was the continual refusal by the CEO of the IHRB Darragh O’Loughlin to shed light on financial impropriety at the HRI-supported organisation.
Almost one year ago, on June 28, 2023 it was revealed before another PAC appearance that IHRB had uncovered an accounting discrepancy from which its chief financial officer, Donal O’Shea, took leave from the agency.
Despite repeated questions on the matter at Thursday's appearance before the same committee, Darragh O’Loughlin refused to provide answers on many aspects of the issue – despite having a draft findings by financial investigators Mazars.
O’Loughlin also declined to comment on the costs of Donal O’Shea’s leave, but he did confirm that the accountant was still in receipt of a full salary, adding pointedly: “It means he is not suspended.”
When asked how much in annual wages the job would be advertised for should the IHRB be looking for a new financial officer, O’Loughlin added: “I wouldn’t put a figure in the ad.”
The financial issue at the IHRB is based on what it says was an “isolated” transaction, albeit one which saw hundreds of thousands of euros channelled out of the Jockeys Emergency Fund.
Despite such a movement of cash occurring, this is the third PAC hearing in which Mr O’Loughlin has refused to give any details behind the transaction, which took place before his appointment last year.
HRI was also unwilling to offer an explanation.
What there was plenty of evidence for was the lack of proper management in the governing structures around horseracing and the Department of Agriculture’s lack of care around horses.
It was revealed at the hearing that an abattoir owned by Shannonside Foods in Straffan, Co Kildare - at the centre of an RTÉ expose last week - was subject to five previous complaints about the treatment of horses at the site.
‘Making a Killing’ showed horses being repeatedly whipped, punched and hit about the head, where one emaciated victim collapsed and died, and where microchips were removed from animals to block identification.
Department of Agriculture Deputy Chief Vetenary Officer Michael Sheahan, while admitting the footage of such brutality was "sickening" and "horrific”, attempted to deny responsibility insisting that the incidents did not happen on the plant, rather in a shed beside the facility “What happens next door is terrible, we would not have known,” he explained.
When asked about complaints made by neighbours of the farm and the plant itself to his department, as well as a conviction for animal cruelty in 2012 Sheahan said: “To be fair in all of the cases of the five complaints we got (they didn’t) merit a prosecution.”
James O’Connor TD from Cork East, with a background in farming, described the treatment as “barbaric and sickening” and was tested when the vet continued to claim that the mistreatment hadn’t happened on the plant itself.
“Don’t give me that nonsense,” Deputy O’Connor responded.
On a number of occasions, two Committee members, O’Connor and Verona Murphy urged Sheahan to “stop digging a hole for yourself” after he said that his “experience is that horses that arrive into this plant are in good condition”.
Social Democrat Catherine Murphy, who presides over the North Kildare constituency to where the abattoir is based, also questioned why so many complaints and a conviction “never raised a red flag”.
Perhaps the most damning discovery from the PAC hearing was of an industry, which is performing so well on the sporting side and on the international stage, is so dysfunctional from a governance and financial aspect.
The lack of any financial responsibility, particularly where such a large amount of charity money can be taken demonstrates a system which was described as “embarrassing”.
The two people who ultimately preside over both organisations and the department were noticeable by their absences - Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue and Junior Minister with responsibility for animal welfare Martin Heydon.
With urgency, the Government, HRI and the IHRB must provide all details to which they refused to offer responses to deeper questions that have still not been answered appropriately.
At one point, Darragh O’Loughlin was told by Verona Murphy TD to “stop embarrassing yourself” when he repeatedly refused to give particular details on the financial scandal, instead pointing to confidentiality issues.
He in turn blamed Mazars for the lack of detail, even though he has been provided with detailed draft findings by the firm.
Examiner Sport contacted Mazars following the hearing to inquire about its delay in producing such a document, but the accountants declined to respond.