THE Indecon Report’s recommendations must be implemented before any larger scale funding of the €816m Irish Sport Horse sector will be considered by Government.

That was the clear message from the political powers that be this week in the wake of Budget 2018.

Tuesday’s Budget added another €500,000 to the coffers of Horse Sport Ireland, bringing its total funding under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, to €2.5m for next year.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed described the HSI funding increase as “substantial” at the Department’s press briefing and referred to the need for the newly released Indecon Report’s recommendations to be implemented.

“We are providing significant increase to Horse Sport Ireland. Funding from this Department is increasing from €2m to €2,440,000 which is a significant increase. It follows on the Indecon Report recently dealing with governance issues in the sector and we made it quite clear that funding will follow on the implementation of that,” Minister Creed told the briefing.

An official from the Department shortly afterwards confirmed the increase to HSI as €500,000.

Speaking briefly to The Irish Field afterwards, where the issue of the gulf in funding between Horse Sport Ireland and Horse Racing Ireland and the Greyhounds was raised, Minister Creed was asked could there be any possible future inclusion of the Irish Sport Horse sector under the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund. “That’s a matter for the industry to make a case for,” he replied, responding to The Irish Horse World’s suggestion of a possible 80/10/10 split to fund racing, the greyhounds and the sport horse sector respectively.

The total amount of public funding for Horse Sport Ireland for 2017 was very marginally over the €4m mark despite the fact that the Irish Sport Horse contributes an estimated €816m to the Irish economy annually and supports over 14,000 full-time jobs nationwide.

Minister Creed confirmed an unchanged €80m funding package for Horse Racing Ireland (64m) and the Greyhound industry (€16m) in the usual 80/20 split.

Commenting hours later on same, Horse Racing Ireland CEO Brian Kavanagh described it as “disappointing”.

Minister Creed defended the €6m increase every year for the last three years for the horse racing sector, saying it had brought the €1bn sector’s funding “back to pre-crash levels”.

“There is not a single sector out there that is not looking for more but I think we made substantial progress and to have held that progress this year is no mean achievement. I’m aware that the industry (racing) would have liked more,” said Minister Creed.

NOT MENTIONED

Horse Sport Ireland is also funded by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and The Irish Field also attended their Budget press briefing on Wednesday which was headed by Minister Shane Ross at Government Buildings.

Despite a lengthy session, no mention at all was made of any funding for either the Irish Sport Horse sector or Horse Sport Ireland with press questions on same redirected to Sports Ireland for an answer.

Minister for state at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin, told The Irish Field that some extra funding had been allocated to NGOs under Sports Ireland.

In turn, a spokesperson for Sports Ireland told The Irish Field in response to queries this week that it would be “early next year” before any funding figures for NGOs, including Horse Sport Ireland, would be available.

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