HORSE Sport Ireland (HSI) was incorporated on December 20th 2006. Here we look at its main functions.

  • The company is limited by guarantee and does not have authorised share capital.
  • The company’s constitution provides that its main objective is to act as the centralised national body for the entire sport horse industry (breeding and sport) in Ireland.
  • HSI is recognised as the national governing body for the equestrian sector in Ireland by Sport Ireland, the Olympic Federate of Ireland, Paralympics Ireland, the FEI and Sport Northern Ireland.
  • HSI is the umbrella body for 28 recognised affiliates.
  • There have been four CEOs of the company; they are Damian McDonald (2006- December 2016), Ronan Murphy (August 2017-September 2020), Joe Reynolds (Interim September 2020-January 2022), Denis Duggan (January 2022-present). Denis Duggan’s contract is up at the end of the year, at which time he will be free to re-apply for the job.
  • HSI manages 19 High Performance programmes, licenses athletes and horses for international competitions, issues equine passports, maintains the Irish Horse Register, runs the National Equestrian Coaching Development Programme and coordinates the national equine anti-doping programme among others.
  • The majority of HSI’s turnover is from grant income received from DAFM (approx. €6 million per annum) and Sport Ireland (approx. €2.1 million per annum).
  • HSI delivers the National Breeding Services (NBS), funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The NBS schemes disseminate funding to support Irish breeders.
  • HSI is the passport-issuing authority and provides studbook services through an awarded tender from the DAFM to the Irish Sport Horse, Irish Draught Horse, Irish Sport Pony and Irish Cob studbooks.
  • HSI entered a contract for services with the DAFM from 2022. This is not grant income. HSI invoices the DAFM for contracted services. The contract is valued at approx. €1.5 million per annum. The contract for services came after a complaint by the Warmblood Studbook of Ireland (WSI) to the European Commission, which led to the DAFM agreeing to stop paying State aid directly to HSI. Instead, it tendered the management of five studbooks, along with breeding schemes and marketing. HSI won the tender to run the studbook and breeding services; the Irish Horse Board won the marketing tender.
  • HSI has 47 full-time employees, as well as additional contract staff, such as High Performance managers.
  • Horse Source - described as HSI’s strategic digital platform - was implemented in 2024. It was developed to replace a legacy database and consolidate registrations, breeding, sport and customer processes in one place. The original cost estimated for Horse Source was approx. €772,000 - funding 80% by DAFM (approx. €618,000) and 20% by HSI (€154,000). The platform has been the subject of plenty of controversy since it was introduced.
  • HSI has incurred costs of €1.581 million in relation to the development of software programmes to the end of June 2026. Some €462,071 has been amortised in the account. (Amortisation is the process of gradually spreading the cost of an asset or loan over a specific period of time.) The DAFM has provided total funding of €799,000 in relation to the software developments across the Brexit Reserve Fund, ETS funding and Equine Traceability support.