HRI boss says British election result has produced ‘more uncertainty'

The outcome of the British general election has provoked even more uncertainty about the potential impact of Brexit on Ireland's racing industry which continues to be a "huge worry" here, according to Horse Racing Ireland's chief executive Brian Kavanagh.

He joined officials from the greyhound industry and the sport horse sector in a meeting with Minister for Agriculture Food & Marine Michael Creed in Portlaoise on Friday to discuss how best to respond to any consequences from Britain's exit from the European Union.

“Brexit is a huge worry for us and I don’t really know how to respond to what happened in the British election: maybe the British electorate were saying they don’t want a very hard Brexit which wouldn’t be the worst result from Ireland’s point of view,” said Kavanagh.

The HRI chief again stressed the importance of maintaining the tripartite agreement between Britain, France and Ireland in relation to the transportation of horses.

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He pointed to recent unanimous agreement at the European and Mediterranean Horseracing Federation which stated its members “were equally united in determination to make every effort to impress upon those conducting negotiations over Britain’s departure that this should not impair the freedom of movement of thoroughbreds between Britain and remaining EU countries”.

Kavanagh said on Friday: “The key issues for Ireland are the tripartite agreement, potential border tariffs post-Brexit and border issues considering there are two tracks in the North of Ireland. But what this election appears to have done is provoke more uncertainty which is not a good thing.”

The Turf Club's chief executive Denis Egan was also at Friday's meeting which was attended too by the Minister for Food, Forestry & Horticulture, Andrew Doyle.

“It was a meeting to try and foresee the problems that could like ahead due to Brexit and what government can do to help,” Egan explained.