LEGAL costs of over €700,000 were incurred at Horse Sport Ireland over a two-year period and are set to spiral even further with their recent launching of a judicial review against the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s recent decision to award a tender to the Irish Horse Board.

Documents seen by The Irish Fieldshow that legal costs at Horse Sport Ireland more than doubled from 2020 (€214,207) to 2021 (€527,533), standing at a combined total of €741,740 for that two-year time frame alone. An additional sum of €370,456 was spent on professional fees as well as another €38,956 on consultancy fees in the same time span. Coaching costs for 2021 were €301,510 (2020: €134,519) while High Performance Costs were €1,673,193 last year (2020: €1,031,593).

Meanwhile, the Naas-based organisation this week published its Annual Report for 2021 which also showed VAT expenses of €168,958 for 2021 had to be paid to Revenue after no VAT was paid in 2020.

The annual report shows that Horse Sport Ireland secured grants and supports for its affiliates of over €2 million.

Speaking at the publication of the Horse Sport Ireland Annual Report, HSI chairman Joe Reynolds said: “The equestrian industry has entered a truly golden era. Irish teams across the disciplines are competing and winning at international level on a regular basis.

“We have some of the best riders, owners and horses in the world compete for Ireland and for Horse Sport Ireland, as well as some of the best producers and breeders of horses.

“Last year, Horse Sport Ireland was in a fortunate position to administer Covid-19-related grants to 19 affiliate organisations within the HSI family.

“Those grants, provided by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media through Sport Ireland ensured that €2.2 million made its way into affiliate organisations to support participation and return to sport post the pandemic.”

Funding model

As a non-profit organisation, HSI’s income from commerical services is spent on initiatives to promote the development of the sport horse industry. DAFM provides the bulk of the public funding to HSI, along with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and that combined public funding came to €10,6825,445, higher than 2020 (€7,514,761), mainly due to increases in grant income from Covid-19 related supports administered into the industry.

Chief Executive Denis Duggan added: “The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine provided an additional €1 million of funding to HSI in 2021, all of which went directly out to breeders, producers and owners of sport horses through HSI’s national breeding initiatives. The national breeding initiatives delivered over €1,000,000 of funding directly to sport horse breeders and owners across the 32 counties of Ireland with each county receiving an average of €31,000. Costs for 2020 amounted to €7,992,236, of which €3,385,824 was spent directly on industry supports such as prize money and breeding initiatives, as well as sport development programmes, while the balance was spent on operational costs of supporting the industry including salaries of those involved in programme delivery.

“There was a deficit of €318,909 for the year. The variation in the year-on-year result is explained by way of a surplus generated in 2020 due to reduced activity in the Covid-19 environment, followed by a deficit incurred in 2021 due to increased activity levels, Olympics costs, increased costs due to Covid-19, changes in VAT treatments, and other non-recurring costs and design fees associated with the Centre of Excellence Project in Greenogue.”

In a look to the future, Duggan, within his address in the annual report, calls out challenges on ensuring ‘a positive culture’ within the sport and industry, from breeder yards, committee meetings to training camps.

Other challenges the CEO identified included rising feed and fuel costs and their impact upon the sector. He also referenced HSI’s plans for an Equestrian Skillnet to create a programme of subsidised workplace training to support talent retention, and upskilling within the equine industry.

The annual report also published a list of any transactions connected to its directors from 2020-2021.

2021

Lucinda Creighton Nil

Edward Doyle €2,689 (total:€7,558)

Paul Duffy €608 (Related Party trans.)

Tom Freyne Nil

Clare Hughes €5,353 (total: €52,138 of €57,491 is Connected Party trans.)

Mary Lambkin Nil

David O’Meara Nil

Joe Reynolds €6,494 (Related Party transaction)

Taylor Vard €2,701

2020

Lucinda Creighton Nil

Edward Doyle €3,168 (€300 of €3,468 is Connected Party transactions)

Paul Duffy Nil

Tom Freyne €55 (Related Party trans.)

Clare Hughes €1,960 (€95,373 of €97,333 is Connected Party Transactions)

Mary Lambkin Nil

David O’Meara Nil

Joe Reynolds €7,366 (Related Party)

Taylor Vard €704 (Related Party trans.)