THE reason why the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board [IHRB] ‘borrowed’ €350,000 from the Jockeys Emergency Fund for three months in 2022 will not be made known until consultants Mazars furnish the IHRB with the final draft of their report into the matter.

Pressed on the subject by members of the Public Accounts Committee this week, IHRB chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin said he could not answer the question as “it could have implications in relation to the IHRB’s own disciplinary processes”.

Mazars were engaged to compile the report a year ago and O’Loughlin said he was surprised how long the process was taking. The firm will be paid €80,000 upon completion of the task, it emerged this week.

Speedy request

“I had thought, and they had thought, that this would be completed long before now,” O’Loughlin said. “We asked for a speedy report, but when the request for documentation came in, we furnished them with everything that they asked for. They have received six years’ worth of documentation. They received in excess of 1,000 documents and records.”

In his opening remarks to the Committee, O’Loughlin said that “the auditor has examined banking transactions for the financial year 2022 which confirms that the highlighted transfer of €350,000 was an isolated incident. When the final report is received from Mazars, it’s the intention of the directors of the IHRB that the findings will be published and the recommendations will be acted on in the meantime.”

O’Loughlin also confirmed that the IHRB’s chief financial officer Donal O’Shea remains on paid leave “without prejudice” while the matter is being investigated.