Caitriona Murphy

ROBERT Splaine is coy about whether he will be in the running for a fourth term as Irish show jumping chef d’equipe when his current contract ends later this month.

The Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup final in Barcelona on September 22nd-25th will be the last big engagement of his current contract, which will end on September 30th.

However Splaine, when asked if he would seek a fourth term, would only say: “I am presently under contract to HSI and I have a very good working relationship with them.

“Discussions in relation to the chef d’equipe job will be with them for now at the least.”

Horse Sport Ireland has confirmed that while the contracts for both show jumping and eventing high performance managers Robert Splaine and Nick Turner are due to end on September 30th, the positions are not likely to be advertised for several months.

Splaine has served 12 years as show jumping chef d’equipe, while Nick Turner has served one four-year term. Efforts to contact Turner were unsuccessful at time of going to print.

HIGH PERFORMANCE FUNDING

Horse Sport Ireland received €2.115m in high performance funding from Sport Ireland (formerly the Irish Sports Council) over four years for the Rio Olympics cycle, averaging just over €520,000 per year.

HSI was the sixth highest of 21 sporting governing bodies who received high performance grants from Sport Ireland for the Rio Olympic cycle 2013-2016.

Five governing bodies received more funding than HSI for that four-year cycle: the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (€3,493,300), Athletics Ireland (€3,290,000), Paralympics Sports (€2,553,000), the Irish Sailing Association (€2,545,000) and Swim Ireland (€2,144,500).

In 2016 Sport Ireland invested more than €10.18m directly into high performance sports bodies – some €8.36m in high performance sports programmes and an additional €1.82m supporting individual athletes.

Three equestrian-relate athletes received individual funding: Helen Kearney, Paralympic Equestrian (€12,000), Pentathlon Ireland Arthur Lanigan-O’Keeffe (€40,000) and Natalya Coyle (€20,000).

Horse Sport Ireland received €775,000 in core grant funding in 2016, which covers administration, participation programmes, coach development, hosting events, implementing strategic plans and the employment of professional staff.