The Referrals Committee, Judge Tony Hunt (in the Chair), Sean Barry and Philip Caffrey met at the Turf Club, The Curragh, Co. Kildare on Thursday, 21st August 2014 to consider the referral of Ronald O’Leary, Trainer, by Denis Egan, Chief Executive of the Turf Club following a random stable inspection carried out at his Training Establishment on 10th July 2014 by Turf Club Officials, Michael O’Donoghue and Nicola O’Connor MRCVS.  During the inspection the officials discovered that:

1. No Medicines Register was available for inspection to check insertions for the past 12 months as it had been burned.

2. There was no secure medicines cabinet on the premises and an opened bottle of Duphalyte was found in the tack room.

3. The Stable Employees Bonus Scheme (SEBS) agreement was not displayed in an employee working area. Evidence was heard from Michael O’Donoghue, Andrew Tyrrell MRCVS and Ronald O’Leary. The Committee also considered a written report on the visit which had been completed by Michael O’Donoghue and Nicola O’Connor MRCVS.

In his evidence Michael O’Donoghue confirmed that Ronald O’Leary was unable to produce a Medicines Register for the previous 12 months when requested to do so as he had burned his previous Medicines Register on receipt of the new Turf Club prescribed Medicines Register book. He also confirmed that there were no insertions in the new Medicines Register book. Mr O’Donoghue further added that Ronald O’Leary was unable to produce any invoices for prescriptions when requested to do so and claimed that all this paperwork was with his accountant. Mr O’Donoghue also noted that the Stable Employee Bonus Scheme Return was not displayed in a staff working area where it could be viewed by all registered members of staff.

In his evidence Andrew Tyrrell explained that Duphalyte was not a prohibited substance but as this particular bottle had expired in 2010 it should have been disposed of on expiry.

In his evidence Ronald O’Leary apologised to the Committee and admitted the breaches of all three Rules.  He added that he is currently in the process of installing a new secure veterinary medicines cabinet at his premises and undertook to record all future use of veterinary medicines in the prescribed Turf Club Medicines Register book.

Having considered the evidence the Committee found that Ronald O’Leary was in breach of:

i) Rule 148(iii)(a) with regard to the safe keeping of veterinary medicines; ii) Rule 148(iii)(b) for failing to maintain a Medicines Register for inspection; iii) Rule 298 5 for failing to display the SEBS agreement in an employee working area.

The Committee imposed a fine of €130 in respect of each Rule breach (€390 in total) and also strongly advised Mr O’Leary to be more attentive to his paperwork in future.

The case was presented by Conal Boyce, Solicitor, Naas, Co. Kildare.