THERE were no major surprises or big smoking guns uncovered in the Indecon Review into Horse Sport Ireland which aims to streamline the organisation and maximise its effectiveness by tapping into the future potential of the sport horse sector.

Indecon described HSI's spending as "transparent" and said it did not see any major areas where spending could be reduced.

Crucially, the Review recognised and endorsed what it termed the "significant potential" of the sport horse sector and its "potential greater contribution to economic development, particularly in rural areas". The Review added: "There is a need to ensure the best use of scarce economic resources but Indecon believes that additional resources are likely to be required to facilitate the expansion of the sector."

Indecon also endorsed the Reaching New Heights document as an "opportunity to expand" and urged HSI to "take ownership" of this strategy and implement its key findings.

Horse Sport Ireland was described in the Indecon Review, as a "complex web of organisations" with a Main Board; two Sub-Boards; several Board Sub-Committees and the existence of the independent Irish Horse Board.

It recommended that the Main Board be reduced from 19 to nine including an independent chair, appointed by the Ministers for Agriculture and Transport, Tourism and Sport, and external directors, all to be recruited via publicjobs.ie

One of HSI's strengths was described as its role as a 32-county body with representation from Northern Ireland on it.

The independent economic consultants questioned the balance of representational involvement and the impact on best practice corporate governance.

"We believe the existing structure is over-complex and is not best aligned with the need to develop commercial opportunities and maximise the economic contribution of the sector," said the Report.

While Indecon recommended that HSI retain responsibilty for national breeding policy, it suggested that the ISH and ID Studbooks to transferred to the Irish Horse Board which would be treated impartially as an affiliate.

On funding, Indecon advised that the revamped Board of HSI develop a "costed submission to Government outlining what would be achieved from Exchequer funding" and what options exist to develop other non-Exchequer funding sources.

It identified the Breeding Department as the single largest area of expenditure and staffing while equestrian coaching, CapallOir, accounted for "very small" proportions of spending.

International marketing represented 7.5% of spend.

Meanwhile the Indecon Review was welcomed by Horse Sport Ireland in a statement tonight.

Jim Beecher, interim chairman of Horse Sport Ireland, said: “The report is very welcome but poses many challenges for Horse Sport Ireland. It is important that we keep the big picture in mind and work towards implementation in the interest of all our stakeholders.”

The report will be fully reviewed by the board and executive of HSI at their next board meeting on July 18th.

MAIN INDECON FINDINGS

Indecon did not identify any significant breaches of corporate governance within the HSI Board. It did raise issues to enhance best practice governance as expected.

The Report found that "HSI has a very complex structure" largely the result of agreements between different interests.

It described as "very unusual" the existence within this structure of the independent company, the Irish Horse Board, a co-operative of breeders with a membership base and elected representatives.

Indecon recommended more focus on Risk Management, currently there is no Risk Register in place at HSI.

It recommended a reduction in the representative nature of the board and that people with specific skill sets be appointed.

The Main Board was described in the report as "exceptionally large" with 19 members with implications for governance and effectiveness. Indecon was "impressed by the commitment of board members who do not obtain fees for their inputs."

The Sport Sub Board has 27 members while the HSI Breeding Sub Board has up to 19 members.

It called for a smaller board of directors of nine people with three consultative advisory councils, covering breeding and production, sports and leisure.

Directors should be appointed for a five-year period.

Indecon identified "significant problems" in the existing HSI equine registration, breeding, information and performance results database structures.

Indecon said that the access to performance data was "not always easy" and pointed to the original concept which was "one web portal and database based in HSI" where members of affiliates could log on to register themselves and their horses/ponies to compete in each affiliate. The membership money and details would then transfer electronically from the HSI database to the affiliates but "to date, this has not happened."

Stakeholders, it said, would prefer to enter their data details once and not repeatedly across many affiliates.

It noted that the same horse could be registered with CapallOir, Eventing, SJI and Dresssage and pointed out that there was no way to see how an animal performed across all disciplines at once ie to see all the horse's results on one page.

An integrated outcome would, it said, be a "huge improvement for potential buyers and sellers" and should be addressed.

Also highlighted for attention was the lack of integration of international data, preventing a comprehensive picture for the sector.

"A more centralised and integrated approach would add value for users of the databases and would assist the development of the industry", said the Report.

A database task force group with an independent chair and membership of HSI and its affiliates should be formed within six months to work on the centralised database.

When it came to HSI funding, Indecon consultants said: "The Irish Sport Horse Sector has, in Indecon's view, significant potential and if expanded, would result in a direct and indirect contribution to economic development particularly in rural areas".

It said that additional resources are needed for HSI if the potential of the sector is to be realised.

"Key areas requiring additional funding should be identified by HSI.

Over 60 individuals and groups made submissions to Indecon in the public consultation phase, Indecon said that many of these made generalised calls for greater funding for the sector.

Close to two-third of HSI's income comes from public funded supports.

Indecon's breakdown of the figures show that HSI expects to record an overall expenditure of €5.87m in 2016 with overall staffing of 31.5 full-time equivalent persons.

The single largest area of expenditure and staffing was the Breeding Department, accounting for a projected €2.5m or 42.1% projected total expenditure and 16.5 staff during 2016.

This is followed by the operation of the High Performance Programmes which were €1.2m.

The operational costs of running HSI as the National Governing Body for equestrian sport represent €0.98m or 16.6% of total expenditure, rising to €1.05m or 17.9% of the costs of "interface with Government" are included, activities delivered by 7.5 staff members.

Indecon noted the "very low levels" spent on anti-doping, as well as the online database and "relatively low levels of funding to the equestrian coaching programme".

More Indecon Review coverage and reaction in Saturday's Irish Field