Leo Powell: One year into the job are you still enthused about the sector?
Ronan Murphy: Even more so than I was originally I would say. I think the Irish Sport Horse Industry is probably the best kept secret in the country. We’ve had lots of challenges and in particular around securing adequate funding for the industry. However the potential in our sector is just what makes it so exciting.
LP: What particular attributes do you feel you brought to the role in Horse Sport Ireland?
RM: I’ve come from a business background and my style would be very results focused. I think that operating at pace is vital in any business environment. We are in the business of sport and breeding. Consensus building is very important, being very open and transparent.
We’ve tried very hard to take away any confusion and to articulate what we do, present our team to people, explain our brands, our remit and participate in a positive, open and collaborative way with all our many stakeholders.
LP: How do you feel that Horse Sport Ireland is seen to be performing in the public arena?
RM: We are 10 years in existence; we are the national governing body for equestrian sport in Ireland. We currently have 28 different affiliates and several more applying to become affiliates. We combine being recognised by the FEI, OCI, Sport Ireland and Sport Northern Ireland with a number of important roles in the sport horse breeding industry, including contributing to breeding policy and managing stud books. So Horse Sport Ireland is a complex business environment interacting with all stakeholders in the sport horse sector
I use the word ‘business’ because the difference between looking from the outside in and being in the seat is that the culture of running the sport horse business must be based on progressive business principles. That’s where our potential is.
We have a sector that operates on people giving their time, often relying on volunteers, with insufficient resources, but it’s not sustainable that way. We at Horse Sport Ireland have a duty of care to provide an operational framework that allows the full potential and the business of this sector to be realised fully.
LP: Is Horse Sport Ireland proactive or is the structure of the organisation a hindrance to that?
RM: Our current structure is unique in that we combine all equestrian sport and breeding, with the exception of the thoroughbred racing and breeding industry, under one governing body. We are not just responsible for high performance sport, we are also responsible for participative sport at all levels.
But then we also combine the sport horse breeding sector; the advantage to me is that they are linked. In our industry we have all of the key elements and representatives of the sector under the one roof.
I think the structure of Horse Sport Ireland historically has not been optimal. I think that the new structure we are putting in place will streamline that and help to clearly define Horse Sport Ireland’s role.
LP: What is your broad view of the Indecon Report’s findings and how far down the line are you in implementing the key recommendations?
RM: We have been working hard to implement the recommendations in the Indecon Report over the last 10 months. The industry may not necessarily be aware of the work that has been completed to date.
The Indecon Report was commissioned by the Department of Agriculture and provides a complete review of Horse Sport Ireland, 10 years after the organisation was initially formed. The report was launched at the end of June 2017 and although I hadn’t yet started in my role as CEO at that time, I attended the launch because I knew this would be a defining project in my first year. At the time a lot of stakeholders felt it would take at least three to five years to implement the recommendations.
It became apparent to me that if we didn’t implement the key recommendations quickly then we risked the commitment that Government had given to funding the sector.
So we set an ambitious deadline that would see the core recommendations substantially implemented by the end of July. We’ve met that target. The report has four main pillars which focus on the structure of Horse Sport Ireland, on the governance of the organisation and the industry, how we optimally use data and finally how the sector is funded.
The report sets out a number of specific recommendations under each of the core pillars. Regarding governance, we have now implemented all of those recommendations.
Implementing those strategically was part of the transition and change management programme that we’ve put in place over the last year. It’s something I’m extremely proud of.
Simultaneously we focused on the recommendations around restructuring the board. The outgoing board of Horse Sport Ireland had 19 members and Indecon recommended that this board should be reduced to nine, six ministerial appointments and three from the industry.
We developed a small task force and one of the first objectives was to look at that structure. The Indecon Task Force proposed a model whereby the new board would be made up of nine members; Joe Reynolds has been appointed as chairman and three ministerial appointees (Clare Hughes, Mary Lambkin Coyle and Lucinda Creighton) have also been appointed.
There will also be a Northern Ireland representative (yet to be appointed) as we are a 32-county body. The remaining four ordinary board members have been elected as the chairs of the four advisory councils, High Performance Sport (Taylor Vard), Equestrian Sport and Recreation (Adrian Flynn), Breeding and Production (Edward Doyle), and Coaching, Education and Training (Lt. Col Tom Freyne).
The third pillar of Indecon focuses on how we use data in the industry. One of the big issues we’ve had to deal with over the past year has been GDPR compliance. It’s given us an awareness of the complexity of data exchange in the industry and its potential for optimally using data and technology in the sector.
It was a recommendation of Indecon that sport horse breeding and performance data should be optimally used for the industry to help it grow and develop. We have established a task force to specifically focus on this project over the next 12 months.
The final pillar in Indecon is funding. While we have no guarantees, I’ve been very enthused by the positive commitments from our government partners. The UCD report on the economic contribution of the sport horse industry was released last year and estimated that it is contributing over €816 million to the Irish economy each year.
If we combine the economic contribution of the sport horse and thoroughbred industries then we have an equine sector which makes a direct contribution of almost €2 billion. And that doesn’t include the combined indirect expenditure which is estimated at another €2 billion.
The average sport horse breeder has 2.6 mares, dotted in every county, while the average thoroughbred breeder has just under four mares and they are similarly spread. The two sectors are very alike, yet the funding for the Sport Horse Industry has significantly lagged behind the thoroughbred and indeed the greyhound sectors in Ireland.
LP: What is the plan going forward?
RM: I have counted 13 reports on the industry over the last 10 years that are relevant. All of them say good things but they are retrospective. We now need to focus on how we go forward. The challenge now is to develop the analysis set out in the ‘Reaching New Heights’ report and translate these recommendations into an effective strategic plan for the industry. For a strategic plan to be effective then it must be costed, time dependent, deliverable, and the results must be measured.
The new board will be instrumental in developing a new strategy for the industry which must be underpinned with costed business plans that we can bring to our partners to support funding applications and demonstrate the return on investment for Ireland. Our success will be measured by job creation, inward investment, sporting successes and breeding successes.
I believe that with this new era, structure and strategic approach there’s a new momentum in the industry that I don’t believe has been there before. This momentum emanates from the success of our athletes and breeders, the performance pathways, our underage teams, and the value of the industry. There’s a spring in the step of this sector. We now need to nurture and develop that.
LP: In 10 years’ time what sort of Horse Sport Ireland could we be looking at?
RM: A Horse Sport Ireland that has a very clearly defined position and is a partner with the stakeholders in a vibrant industry. I’d like to see a clear branding. At the moment our branding can be confusing between The Irish Horse Gateway, Team Ireland – all good things in their own right but it’s important that the Horse Sport Ireland brand itself is recognised as a positive industry partner.
I’d like to see us in the second wave of strategic planning. I’d like to see the work done in the first wave starting to really deliver results. Breeding decisions we make today will be producing Grand Prix horses in nine years’ time. By then I’d like to see more Irish produced horses competing at the very top.
I’d like to see a stronger business culture across the industry, a self-sustainable funding model for the sector which would include a combination of state funding, sponsorship and input from the sector. It’s imperative that we develop new mechanisms whereby we can attract alternative funding for the industry.
We must embrace positive change. I suppose the challenge we face is this embedded fear of change. That’s natural. I keep referencing my Darwinian quote that ‘it’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the fittest, but the one that’s most adaptable to change’.
The reorganised Horse Sport Ireland gives us an opportunity that we haven’t had before and it’s our duty now to build on this platform to develop the sector.
LP: Is Jim Power’s recent report for the Sport Horse Alliance taking your ground a little bit?
RM: We’ve been working with Jim Power and the Sport Horse Alliance since day one and continue to maintain a close relationship with them. They are coming very much from an industry perspective and the report contains a number of very logical initiatives for our sector.
It is important that our strategies and initiatives lift all boats in the sector and demonstrate real benefits in the long term. Inputs from the Sport Horse Alliance group are hugely important to that. I see it as running in parallel with what we are trying to do. The report acknowledges very strongly that Horse Sport Ireland will have a central role in the future.
I’d like to see clear structures where Horse Sport Ireland would fund the sector and have the structures and framework in place to manage that important function on behalf of the industry. A business plan and a strategic plan is only a piece of paper if it’s not adequately funded.
LP: Last year you shared a stage at the Equine Summit with Brian Kavanagh [CEO Horse Racing Ireland] and I sensed there were areas of common interest. Has that relationship developed?
RM: Horse Sport Ireland has an excellent relationship with Horse Racing Ireland and I find Brian and his team extremely helpful on numerous industry matters. There are many areas of commonality between the thoroughbred and sport horse sectors.
Lifetime equine welfare and aftercare is one example. We have a situation where as an industry we need to strengthen our linkages and communications with the public for our sports. As a country we need to ensure that Irish people continue to maintain a strong affinity with the horse.
We have a responsibility to clearly communicate how we interact with horses, the care we give them, and how we look after them throughout their lifetime. That goes for all equestrian pursuits, sport and breeding. I think that’s core to the sustainability of our industries.
Brexit is potentially a very big issue and it presents many challenges, particularly for our equines which travel so frequently. The UK is an important market for our industry and a land bridge to mainland Europe. We also need to ensure that our existing systems for identifying horses and recording pedigree information are world class, using modern technologies and systems.
By combining our approach at European and international level, the Irish equine industry represents a €4 billion industry that’s supporting over 30,000 full time jobs; this is a strong voice. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our collaboration with the thoroughbred sector across a number of key areas including equine health, welfare, traceability, national bio-security, transport, use of data, identification technologies and more.
LP: Are you worried that Brexit would drive the international riders based here out of Ireland?
RM: I think that’s potentially a big disruptor. We are an island nation and require one or two ferry journeys to reach mainland Europe. Any potential barriers, tariffs or borders following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU would have a very significant impact on Ireland. We need to continuously invest and improve our facilities, competition surfaces and our prizemoney here in Ireland.
At the same time we should keep it in context. Take golf. The tour at the top is a global sport. Show jumping is the same. We are fortunate to have here in Ireland one of the best shows in the world at the RDS. But that’s one week of the year. There’s another 51 weeks where people have to compete.
We need to focus on developing our national circuit, and providing a sustainable alternative for our talented riders and producers of horses who are based here in Ireland.
LP: What is your view on the Irish Horse Board?
RM: I think the Irish Horse Board is a very important industry stakeholder because its membership is predominately comprised of breeders across the country, in every county. The new board of Horse Sport Ireland will have the breeding and production advisory council. In the transition period this advisory council will have strong representation from the Irish Horse Board on it.
Long term the breeding sector needs to continue to focus on market specific breeding programmes. We have to manage things like maintaining pedigree. Similar to the thoroughbred sector, if breeders don’t produce for the market then they will go out of business.
We can’t lose ground because the generation interval is too long. It will take eight to nine years for us to see the fruits of the mating decisions that are made this year at the very top levels of equestrian sport.
LP: How proud are you of the current crop of riders, and especially young riders?
RM: What really encourages me is that we’ve the best horse people in the world. I am very proud when people come up to me and ask how does Ireland do it? Our pony and youth programmes continue to deliver medal success on the European and world stage. The coaching programme and the work done in Horse Sport Ireland around the pathway and high performance structures have all contributed to this success.
Rodrigo [Pessoa] and his team have done an exceptional job at the senior level. The linkages down through the underage pathway have been really fruitful. At one stage last year our show jumping riders won 10 gold medals in a 12-week period. I don’t know of any other sport that’s able to do that consistently for Ireland. It is disappointing when we sometimes don’t get the broad media coverage that our sport deserves.
RTE has really come on board this year. They are starting to re-engage with equestrian sport. Sport Ireland has also been an important support to us. The Minister for Agriculture has been very supportive. He’s particularly vested in the equine sector and given us an opportunity to demonstrate the true potential of our industry.
LP: Rodrigo Pessoa’s contract comes to an end after WEG. Is there a plan to keep him?
RM: We are very fortunate that we have Rodrigo and the team that he has around him. We have a high performance model that works very well. We’ve replicated similar high performance models across eventing and dressage. Our target is to have an Irish jumping team, eventing team, dressage team and a para-dressage team at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. That would be the first time we’ve ever done that.
The high performance director’s role is key and we are fortunate to have somebody of the calibre of Rodrigo. Obviously it’s competitive to have somebody of his stature and we will be doing everything we can to maintain that relationship, especially to the Tokyo games.
Winning gold at the European championships last year was a game changer for show jumping and Team Ireland. The current structures are different in that we now have a management team.
Rodrigo is the lead, he’s the high performance director and he’s responsible for the team. He has his support team. We have a model that works, where we share responsibility because high performance sport at that level is a very complex area. The difference between success and failure is measured in millimetres or milliseconds and we want to create an environment where everything is right for athletes to give their optimum performance.
LP: Have you a message for the Ministers for Agriculture and Sport?
RM: The message is that we are appreciative of the support you have given us and particularly the interest you have taken in the Indecon process. We’ve shown our commitment as a board and industry too by implementing it.
The report makes a clear recommendation that additional funding is required. We are in the building phase, we’ve put the foundations in and to build something we have to start buying materials and adequate funding for our industry is essential.
We can deliver. We need investment in our business. Long term our plan is not to be standing with our hand out, rather to have a sustainable business model. It is about exploiting potential. We believe that the Irish sport horse industry makes a hugely important economic contribution to Ireland. We now need an appropriate funding model to enable the sector deliver its maximum potential and we need all our stakeholders to support this objective.