Chairman, Members of the Committee,
On behalf of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, I want to thank you for the invitation to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts to discuss our 2022 financial statements, alongside our colleagues from Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). My name is Darragh O’Loughlin, Chief Executive Officer of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board CLG (IHRB) and I am joined by my colleague Dr Lynn Hillyer, IHRB Chief Veterinary Officer.
Background
The IHRB is the independent internationally recognised racing regulatory body for horseracing across the island of Ireland, an industry that supports over 30,000 jobs and contributes €2.46 billion to the economy.
Under the Horse Racing Ireland Act 2016, the IHRB is solely and independently responsible for making and enforcing the Rules of Racing, licensing all participants, and regulating horseracing, including anti-doping and handicapping. The IHRB provides professional officials and volunteer Raceday Stewards for all race meetings in Ireland to ensure that the rules are properly observed, and that the integrity of the sport is maintained. In 2022, the IHRB oversaw a combined 482 race fixtures across the 32 counties in Flat, National Hunt and Point to Point racing, with 39,825 runners in total. The corresponding figures for 2023 were 38,601 runners across 483 fixtures.
Governance
Governance is a key pillar of the IHRB’s Strategy 2024-2027, published late last year. The strategy commits us to consistently applying a robust governance framework and rigorous probity regime.
The board of the IHRB is made up of eight directors, currently four male and four female. To improve Board diversity and independence, the IHRB amended its constitution in 2022 to provide for the appointment of independent directors. Following an extensive recruitment process, two independent directors were appointed at yearend and took office at the beginning of 2023.
The IHRB’s horseracing integrity services funding comes via HRI and we meet at least quarterly with them to ensure transparency and oversight of spending under the agreed budget. In mid-2023 a significantly revised and strengthened Service Level Agreement governing the provision and use of funding for horseracing integrity services was agreed between HRI and IHRB and we continue to operate within the funding parameters agreed with HRI. Any re-allocation of funding must be agreed with HRI and disclosed in the IHRB financial statements, as must severance scheme proposals prior to the circulation of terms to staff or representatives.
The IHRB believes that our funding ought to be directed as far as possible towards our core functions of integrity, rider safety, equine welfare and licensing. However, other obligations relating to governance and probity must be met; these require significant resourcing to ensure that they are delivered and reported to the expected standard. The IHRB is committed to effective joint working with HRI and efficient delivery of shared objectives. To that end, we have put in place a joint IT strategy and are exploring a shared services approach to key support functions such as Finance, HR, Procurement and Compliance. This will realise gains in capacity, effectiveness and resilience, and eliminate key person dependencies.
Financial Governance Matter
As the Committee will recall, the Board became aware on 28 June 2023 of an issue relating to financial governance which had occurred in early 2022. This was immediately disclosed to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to the Comptroller and Auditor General and to Horse Racing Ireland. The issue concerned a transfer of €350,000 which was made in January 2022 from the Jockeys Emergency Fund, a charity bank account administered by the IHRB, to the IHRB’s bank account; this was subsequently reversed in April 2022. The transfer is disclosed in the notes to the financial statements.
The professional services firm, Mazars, was engaged to carry out an independent review of this and other financial governance matters. The review, which involves detailed scrutiny of six years’ worth of financial and other records as well as interviews with relevant individuals, commenced at the end of August and a final report is expected shortly. Pending receipt of the Mazars report, the auditors examined banking transactions for the financial year 2022 and confirmed that the highlighted transfer of €350,000 was an isolated incident. When the final report is received from Mazars, it is the intention of the Directors of the IHRB that the findings will be published and the recommendations will be acted on.
Formal agreements are being put in place between IHRB and the various charitable and non-profit entities for which administrative support is provided, along with written policies/procedures clearly defining roles and responsibilities, strict transaction approval controls, and segregation of account(s) access. We will also implement any further measures which are identified by Mazars to ensure the necessary governance structures and policies are put in place and financial controls enhanced.
Equine Anti-Doping and Welfare
The equine anti-doping programme (EADP) remains a top priority for the IHRB and, after payroll, is our most significant area of expenditure. Our equine anti-doping strategy continues to evolve, and operates on a sophisticated risk and intelligence basis, backed by rigorous processes of investigation and follow-through in the event of an adverse analytical finding.
IHRB teams took 5,403 samples from horses in 2022 and 5,866 in 2023. These were analysed at LGC Labs in Newmarket, one of only six IFHA recognised reference laboratories worldwide, and resulted in 11 adverse findings in 2022 and six in 2023. This year we also launched a joint anti-doping initiative with the British Horseracing
Authority which saw approximately 250 samples, both blood and hair, taken from over 120 horses across 14 premises in advance of the Cheltenham festival.
An independent review of the anti-doping programme by renowned global expert Dr Craig Suann, published in April 2022, confirmed that the IHRB programme at least matches international best practice and made recommendations to enhance it further.
The Suann review recommended that CCTV cameras should be installed in the Sampling Units of each Racecourse. IHRB accepted that recommendation and installed CCTV in Sampling Units with the roll-out of CCTV across Ireland’s 25 permanent racecourses. The other recommendations are in the process of being implemented, subject to availability of resources.
In October 2022, we established the Equine Injury in Irish Racing Risk Reduction Project to identify, understand and mitigate risk factors for racing-related equine injuries. The aim of the project is to identify and implement measures to reduce the risk of injury to horses in racing.
Lastly, to enhance transparency, we will shortly begin monthly publication of antidoping activity on our website, including details of horses which have been the subject of an adverse finding.
Conclusion
Thank you again for your invitation to appear and for your attention this morning. Dr Hillyer and I are happy to answer any questions the Committee may have.