With his impressive knowledge of the horse industry and his obvious passion for the success of our equestrian sector, it was a joy to meet with the new Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) CEO, Ronan Murphy, and discuss the questions posed on these pages a few weeks ago.

In this first part of our conversation we concentrated on current concerns.

Michael Slavin: Which of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) commissioned Indecon Report recommendations will be prioritised? Ronan Murphy: The report makes 23 recommendations on governance, structure of relationships with affiliates, breeding and programmes. It did not identify any significant breaches of corporate governance within the HSI board. However, a number of recommendations should be considered to enhance best practice and governance.

The establishment of the audit and risk committee has already been completed.

An Indecon implementation task force with representation from HSI and our two main government funding bodies (DAFM and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport) will be established to oversee the implementation process and will meet shortly to prioritise the recommendations and commence engagement with all relevant stakeholders.

MS: Will the Indecon vision of a smaller, more focused board of directors be implemented?

RM: A key role for the implementation task force will be to engage with the existing board and all stakeholders as to the optimum structure and size of the HSI board for the future. The Indecon Report recommends that the size of the board should be reduced from 19 to nine. That lower figure may not be written in stone.

The optimum size of the board will be considered by the task force and it is essential that the new board has access to the skills necessary to fulfil its duties in finance, marketing, equestrian controls and regulations etc.

A balance needs to be struck between equestrian expertise and representation while also ensuring that the board has the skills necessary to implement strategy for the Irish Sport Horse sector and to secure the funding required to deliver the strategic initiatives set out in the Reaching New Heights Report.

MS: Will there be more transparency about appointments to various important committees?

RM: Transparency of appointments was not identified as an issue within the Indecon Report. HSI committees are standing committees of the board of directors and are mandated to carry out particular functions as set out in their respective terms of reference.

Appointments to those committees are a collaboration between the HSI board and the relevant discipline. Details of all committees and their terms of reference will also be available on our website as part of our governance profile.

MS: When do you expect to get the Jim Power report?

RM: The UCD Report has been completed – we gave a copy to the minister for agriculture in advance of the recent budget. The report was officially launched for widespread circulation last week.

I understand that the publication of the Jim Power Report is also imminent.

MS: Have recent government contacts been fruitful?

RM: Yes, our dealings with officials from both the DAFM and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport have been open and progressive. We have been working very hard to demonstrate the potential of the Irish Sport Horse sector in terms of economic return, social contribution and sporting successes.

The Irish Sport Horse sector has been grossly underfunded and we now have an opportunity to make a strong business case to ensure both sustainability and growth of the industry into the future.

We need to ensure that all boats are lifted with this rising tide and we need to work closely with the government, our primary source of funding, to grow and develop the sector.

MS: Can you expect greater government funding going forward?

RM: HSI warmly welcomes the additional €500,000 contribution made by the DAFM in the recent budget. This brings the DAFM contribution up to €2.5m for 2018. This is a strong start and represents a 25% increase in funding from DAFM for next year. This demonstrates a strong commitment by the minister who has clearly stated that additional funding for the sector will follow once the recommendations set out in the Indecon Report have been implemented.

More of this conversation next week.