With over €2.03m of Government funding already approved, Horse Sport Ireland is now certain to be dealing with a budget of well over €6m for 2017.

In addition to the Department of Agriculture grant, there will also be monies from the Irish Sports Council of over €1 million, and Equine Support grant of €500,000 and Northern Ireland grants of some €150,000.

The organisation’s own income from registrations, operations etc. in 2015 came to €1,690,776.

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Counting a variety of sources like private donations, affiliations, sport capital grant etc., the total budget for 2015 was €6,099,000. That figure will be exceeded for 2017, partly due to an extra €160,000 promised from the Department of Agriculture toward the Reaching New Heights strategy.

But not everyone is happy with the present state of funding available. According to Malahide promoter and exporter Barry O’Connor, an Irish Sport Horse Industry Group has already met with both Minister For Agriculture Michael Creed and Junior Minister Andrew Doyle to make a case for increased funding in the sector.

“We were making the point that inward investment, jobs and exports are just waiting to happen and that the money would be well spent.”

POOR RELATION

Economist Jim Power, who is in the process of undertaking a major study on behalf of the group, echoes those sentiments.

He told Irish Horse: “Relative to other sectors like that of the thoroughbred, the Sport Horse Industry has been the poor relation. During my study to date, it has been made clear to me that this industry has a major impact on rural Ireland and with the current challenges facing agriculture here the Sport Horse deserves greater attention.”

Both Horse Sport Ireland chairman Dr. Pat Wall and chief executive Damian McDonald have also been recently quoted in our sister paper The Irish Field as saying that Reaching New Heights will need a real commitment from the Government in the form of substantial extra funding.

Before the week is out, we expect to hear some really exciting news in relation to the sale of Irish horses. More about that in our next issue.

TORONTO TREBLE

Prefiguring Ireland’s rugby win over Canada last weekend, Irish riders scored a hat-trick of firsts at the Great Winter Fair in Toronto earlier in the week. Shane Sweetnam opened with a Welcome Stakes win on the Wednesday with Cobalt. Daniel Coyle followed with an Under 25 National Championship victory on Susan and Ariel Grange’s Fortis Fortuna. Thursday’s main class went to Darragh Kenny as he came out on top in a 12-horse jump-off on Charly Brown ahead of Jessica Springsteen

Both Sweetnam and Kenny picked up some points in the World Cup there as they placed fourth and ninth. Meantime on four faults with Golden Hawk, Shane Breen added just two points to his total of 15 in the Western European League round at Verona which was won by Egypt’s Abdel Said when third to go in a 13-horse jump-off on Hope van Scherpen Donder by Quadrillo out of a Balou du Rouet dam. Billy Twomey had a second there in a jump-off with Diaghilev.