Horse Racing Ireland welcomes Government review of prize money policy

Horse Racing Ireland has said that it welcomes an examination of how effective its policy on prize money is to the overall health of racing in this country.

It emerged before Christmas that a Government review of the governance of the Horse & Greyhound Fund is under way, with particular focus on prize money and its distribution.

The review is being carried out by what has been described as an “external organisation”, although no timeframe has emerged on when any report will be released.

The Government is giving €95 million to the Horse & Greyhound Fund this year, with €76 million of that going to horse racing. That is an increase of €3.2 million on 2023.

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HRI has confirmed that €32.7 million was taken from the fund last year to contribute to prize money totals of over €68 million. An increased prize fund of €69.4 million will be in place in 2024.

That funding has been criticised by opposition political parties, in terms of most of it going to some of the richest people in the country.

Recently, Brian Stanley. the Sinn Féin TD and chairman of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, pointed to the racing industry’s importance and how the fund needs to be reviewed in a “timely” manner. He said the main issues looked at should include the efficiency of subsidising prize money.

A strong prize fund is essential to racing here if we are to continue to compete successfully on the world stage, as well as growing the industry domestically

HRI’s chief executive Suzanne Eade has said racing’s semi-State ruling body is happy to engage with any review.

“We look forward to engaging fully with any analysis of the effectiveness of prize money in Irish racing, and how that fund delivers for the industry and local economies,” she said on Tuesday.

“In 2022, international investment in Irish racing contributed over €550 million in foreign direct investment to the Irish economy.

“A strong prize fund is essential to racing here if we are to continue to compete successfully on the world stage, as well as growing the industry domestically,” Eade added.

The move comes in a context of wide-ranging political focus last year on financial and governance issues in relation to the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB), which this year will receive €11.4 million in funding from HRI.

An independent report from the Mazars audit and tax firm into as yet unspecified financial matters of “grave concern” revealed by the IHRB’s chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin to PAC last summer is still awaited.

The delay in publishing the report has been described as “completely and utterly unacceptable” by the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee chairman, Jackie Cahill.

Mazars were appointed by HRI in June after O’Loughlin told PAC he had become aware of a financial issue he labelled a “bombshell”. At the same hearing, it emerged that the IHRB’s chief financial officer, Donal O’Shea, had been put on a period of voluntary leave without prejudice to his position.

It also emerged last month that the secretary general of the Department of Agriculture, Brendan Gleeson, wrote to Eade in June expressing dissatisfaction with a €384,870 exit payment made to O’Loughlin’s predecessor, Denis Egan, when he took early retirement in 2021. That was 58 per cent more than he was entitled to under redundancy scheme terms.

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