An Oireachtas committee due to examine corporate governance issues at the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board Committee (IHRB) adjourned unexpectedly on Thursday on foot of legal advice given after proceedings had begun.
Moments beforehand, members of the agricultural committee had been told the emergence of a financial governance issue causing “grave concern” at the IHRB was not believed to be related to misappropriation or personal gain.
Last month, its chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin shocked the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) when he revealed unanticipated details of the matter, although he declined to answer several specific questions.
He told the PAC that in the previous two days he had become aware of “a hitherto unknown issue” that occurred in early 2022.
PAC was also informed during its meeting that the board’s chief financial officer, Donal O’Shea, who had been due in front of the committee, was on “a period of voluntary leave without prejudice to his position.”
The IHRB regulates the horse racing industry, and is in charge of integrity functions including anti-doping and race-day stewarding.
On Thursday, in an opening statement to the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Mr O’Loughlin elaborated that “while the matter relates to financial governance, there does not appear to be any question of misappropriation or personal gain”.
The “preliminary facts as they are known” were immediately disclosed to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General; the board’s funding body Horse Racing Ireland; and the Minister for Agriculture and his senior officials, Mr O’Loughlin set out.
Since then, the IHRB has engaged with Mazars who have agreed to carry out an independent review and solicitors have prepared draft terms of reference.
“Pending agreement from HRI on the terms of reference, the board of the IHRB is determined that the review will commence as a matter of urgency and will be carried out as expeditiously as possible,” Mr O’Loughlin said in his statement.
“Once concluded, the findings will be published and any recommendations will be acted upon.”
At last month’s PAC hearing, Mr O’Loughlin said that to describe the matter “as a bombshell is not unreasonable”.
While further questions into the issue were likely at Thursday’s agriculture committee hearing, its chairman Jackie Cahill suspended proceedings after briefly consulting with an official.
Sometime later, the meeting resumed only for Mr Cahill to say he had received legal advice. “Arising from this advice the committee is to seek further clarification on this advice before proceeding with this evening’s meeting.” It was adjourned until a later date.
Separately, Mr O’Louglin had addressed the recent installation of CCTV systems across 25 racecourses, made up of over 500 cameras, 25,500 meters of cable and 25 network video recorders in stable yards and sampling units at tracks around the country.
“Now that CCTV is operational, it should act as a deterrent for prohibited or inappropriate activities and will assist in any investigation should an incident occur,” he said.
