THE serious financial irregularity revealed by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board this week “does not appear to involve any personal gain or that any public funds were misappropriated”, according to the IHRB.
An independent investigation is to be carried out into the issue which was brought to light by IHRB chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee [PAC] on Thursday morning.
O’Loughlin was before the PAC to discuss the circumstances around the early retirement payment made to his predecessor Denis Egan, and other costs. However, in his opening statement, O’Loughlin said that in preparation for the meeting he discovered another significant issue from early 2022 which was “financial in nature”.
O’Loughlin said: “Within the past 48 hours, in the course of preparing for this meeting, I became aware of a hitherto unknown issue that occurred in early 2022 which caused grave concern.” He said he immediately informed the IHRB directors, Horse Racing Ireland, the Department of Agriculture and the Comptroller General’s office.
Pressed by TDs for more information on the matter, O’Loughlin said he had been reviewing the 2021 accounts and “post-balance sheet events”, and “became aware of an issue that had occurred in early 2022 - so doesn’t form part of these financial statements” but which is potentially relevant. “It related to governance around financial transactions,” he said.
O’Loughlin, who became CEO exactly one year ago today, said he could not give any further details for fear of prejudicing the independent investigation and report, which could take months to complete.
“I expect it will be a very thorough and extensive review,” he said, “at the end of which a full report will be published which will be informative to all of us, and will make clear at that stage what it is that unfortunately I am not able to tell you today. I expect the review will take a number of months.”
The IHRB’s financial controller Donal O’Shea was a late absentee from the hearing, having taken “voluntary leave” a day before the meeting. O’Loughlin declined to say if O’Shea’s absence was related to the financial issue discovered this week.
O’Shea was appointed as CFO in 2017 and is described on the IHRB website as “an experienced finance executive having held various senior roles within various other industries in Ireland over the past 10 years. His responsibilities include finance, IT (operation and development), charities, pensions and corporate governance.”
Queried on the nature of O’Shea’s “voluntary leave”, O’Loughlin said: “It is a generic term and I use it advisedly. I am acting on what I believe to be good legal advice. It would be my preference that no inference is taken from the term.”
On Thursday night the IHRB issued a short statement which read: “The IHRB confirms that an issue emerged this week which has given rise to grave concern.
“It was immediately brought to the attention of the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, the IHRB Chairman and the Board which has commissioned a full review of the matter to be conducted by an independent firm.
“Additionally, the preliminary facts as they are known have been disclosed to relevant bodies including the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Horse Racing Ireland and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
“At this time, the matter does not appear to involve any personal gain or that any public funds were misappropriated.”
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