THE Indecon Review into Horse Sport Ireland was officially released on Tuesday evening by Minister Michael Creed and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

There were no major surprises or big smoking guns uncovered in the review, 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.

Reduce board numbers

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.

Studbooks to move

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.