The national body for show jumping has been rocked by turmoil after its chairman and three directors went to the High Court to block their dismissal from its board.
They claim Showjumping Ireland has set up a “kangaroo court” against them, adding that facts were predetermined by conflicted board colleagues.
A legal filing on one side of the dispute – by the chairman Dessie McFadden, a veteran Co Tyrone businessman – suggests it originates in divisions over an “allegation of financial irregularities” in its Ulster division.
That allegation is the subject of separate ongoing civil proceedings in the Northern Ireland courts, which Showjumping Ireland initiated in March 2024 against Allison Mercer, its former Ulster treasurer.
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McFadden has claimed three friends of Mercer on the board are conflicted in relation to the proposed dismissals and that the removal of four directors would undermine Showjumping Ireland’s proceedings against the former Ulster treasurer.
“I have a suspicion that this is what her ‘friends’ would like to see occur,” he said in an affidavit.
Mercer, a businesswoman, declined to comment for this article when contacted through Horse Sport Ireland (HSI), where she has been director since June 2024, three months after Showjumping Ireland began court action against her.
At issue, according to the McFadden filing, are questions over sums of money amounting to £8,825.51 (€10,220.18) and £2,540.27 and documents about a Stripe account.
The Showjumping Ireland row rumbled quietly in the background until it burst into the open in the High Court on Tuesday, disturbing the convivial image of a well-heeled country sport synonymous with competitive good cheer.
[ Showjumping Ireland vote to remove chairman is stalledOpens in new window ]
McFadden, who has been involved in show jumping for decades, asked the court to stop a board meeting scheduled that day from hearing a resolution to remove him and three fellow Ulster region directors from the board.
Those directors – Neal Doherty, Derek Reid and Aldyth Roulston – joined McFadden in the court action, saying their removal from the board would irreparably damage them in show jumping and business affairs.
In a vacation sitting of the court on Tuesday, Mr Justice Garrett Simons ruled “with great reluctance” to grant an injunction against the board voting that day on the disputed resolution.
On Wednesday the judge was told the board had postponed the vote to remove McFadden, Doherty, Reid and Roulston as directors and members of association committees. The judge then continued the injunction until October 8th or an earlier court order.
The basis for the resolution were claims the four Ulster directors “failed to properly inform” the board “on the full content and extent of legal correspondence sent by solicitors instructed by the Ulster region against a former Ulster region treasurer when board approval was sought to initiate or progress legal proceedings against this former Ulster region treasurer.”
Although the resolution itself did not cite the former Ulster treasurer by name, Allison Mercer was named in McFadden’s affidavit.
McFadden declined to discuss the case when contacted. His affidavit was approved by Doherty, Reid and Roulston. They said they acted “with utmost propriety in relation to the steps taken to get Ms Allison Mercer to answer auditor queries in relation to a matter which has now led to litigation with a fear that there were financial irregularities she is responsible for”.
Central to their action is the claim that three other board members – Melvyn Kennedy, Tomas Ryan and Kenneth Feeney – were personal friends of Mercer but still planned to vote on a resolution to remove them that related to the association’s claim against her.
“I say it would be an affront to justice if the friends of Allison Mercer were to be able to summarily dismiss the representatives of the Ulster region (ie the plaintiff herein) for misconduct justifying summary dismissal as directors where they are clearly conflicted and incapable of approaching the matter dispassionately,” said McFadden’s affidavit.
McFadden said Mercer “took issue with the language used” in that letter but said that was not his fault or that of his fellow litigants
Kennedy declined to take a call from The Irish Times, saying he was at work. When contacted, Feeney had no comment on the claims about him or the case. Tomas Ryan did not reply to voice and text messages seeking comment. Marguerite Ryan, vice-chairman of Showjumping Ireland, also declined to comment.
McFadden’s affidavit went on to say he and his co-litigants had a “real and substantial apprehension and belief that what is being set up is a ‘kangaroo court’ where the charges are not defined, no evidence will be called or findings made and instead the facts will be determined by a vote of conflicted persons who have decided in advance”.
According to the affidavit, Mercer was Ulster treasurer of Showjumping Ireland from 2018 to 2022.
“The auditors for Showjumping Ireland raised certain queries concerning financial transactions which were matters within Ms Mercer’s knowledge and control (and perhaps her sole knowledge),” he claimed in the affidavit.
When Ms Mercer “did not answer those queries fully or adequately”, Belfast solicitors Millar McCall Wylie were instructed to send her a letter of claim in April 2023.
McFadden said Mercer “took issue with the language used” in that letter but said that was not his fault or that of his fellow litigants.
“There followed contentious correspondence with Ms Mercer’s solicitors,” he added.
While Ms Mercer furnished certain documents and information, she did not address the queries and requests, he said.
In addition, he said it appeared board’s main complaint against the Ulster directors related to the use by Millar McCall Wylie, the Belfast solicitors, of the word “theft” in the context of “confirmation of what was not alleged if full responses and accountability were received from Ms Mercer.”
The affidavit cited Galway-based solicitor Mark Killilea, who advises Showjumping Ireland, saying the “unfortunate use of the word ‘theft’” was “not a criticism of the Ulster region as presumably they would have been guided by their legal advisers as to the extent of this wording”.
The association’s action against Mercer was initiated in Lisburn County Court on March 26th, 2024, as she did not provide the requested information and answers.
Citing records presented to the High Court, McFadden said he “remains hopeful that Allison Mercer will belatedly provide a full and adequate response to the queried sums of £8,825.51 (paragraph a), £2,540.27 (paragraph b) and the request for documents in relation to a named Stripe account (paragraph c-ii).”
Showjumping Ireland periodically receives State funding and is affiliated to Horse Sport Ireland, which is the national body for all equestrian sports. It follows that High Court disclosures about the case in Northern Ireland against Mercer raise questions about her appointment three months later to HSI’s board.
She was nominated by the Northern Ireland Horse Board to a HSI advisory forum, which elects two potential board candidates.
“Both candidates went through an external interview process, Ms Mercer was recommended by the independent interview panel, and appointed to the board,” said HSI.
So did HSI know about court proceedings against Mercer when she became a director?
“Horse Sport Ireland was made aware of the existence of the case when Ms Mercer was appointed to the board of directors,” it replied.
“These legal proceedings are currently before the courts, and no finding of fact has been made in relation to this allegation.”
Asked whether Mercer herself had any comment on the case against her and claims she did not fully and accurately answer questions, HSI said: “These legal proceedings are currently before the courts and therefore Ms Mercer cannot comment.”
