IHRB annual report reveals €350k transfer from charity fund
David Picture: Maher Transferred Emergency The Sportsfile Fund €350,000 Was / From Bombshell: Jockeys
In the recently-released Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s annual report and accounts for 2022, the nature of the financial matter of ‘grave concern’ which chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin mentioned to the public accounts committee almost a year ago was revealed.
The issue concerns a sum of €350,000, which was transferred from the Jockeys’ Emergency Fund to the board’s bank account in January 2022 but was subsequently repaid.
In the annual report, under the title ‘Financial governance issue’, it stated that ‘Note 18 to the financial statements concerns related party transactions. The note includes a disclosure that €350,000 was transferred from the Jockeys’ Emergency Fund, a charity bank account under the control of the IHRB, to the board’s bank account, in January 2022.
The funds were subsequently repaid by the board to the charity account in April 2022. Note 24 and the statement on internal control report that concerns arose in June 2023 about the financial governance of those transactions, and that an independent external review of those concerns and certain other matters is ongoing.’
In his chairperson’s statement, dated March 6, 2024, director John Byrne clarified that, ‘On 28th June 2023 the Board became aware of an issue relating to financial governance which occurred in early 2022. While the matter relates to financial governance, there is no impact on the Financial Statements.’.
In June 2023, O’Loughlin told the PAC that the issue, which he also labelled a ‘bombshell’, had come to his attention in the course of preparing for last year’s meeting. At the time, he also revealed to the committee that chief financial officer Donal O’Shea, who had been scheduled to appear in front of the PAC, was, since the day before that meeting, ‘on a period of voluntary leave without prejudice to his position’.
At the time, O’Loughlin said he was only aware of the ‘preliminary facts’ regarding the matter but that he had referred it to the board’s audit and risk committee, and to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, the Comptroller and Auditor General, and Horse Racing Ireland.
Mazars, a leading international audit, tax, and advisory firm, was subsequently commissioned to carry out an independent external review, the findings of which have still not been made public. One suspects this is just the start of what could be another difficult period for the IHRB as they are due before the PAC again next week.