Abbotstown anger

MADAM,

HAVING read in The Irish Field (Saturday, November 24th), I was left very concerned by the revelations in the article titled ‘SJI shows at national arena now cancelled’. As a taxpayer and horse enthusiast, I was very disappointed to learn that the National Horse Arena had ever planned to run a registered SJI league, I always assumed that the facility was to be used for elite training of our top-level equestrian athletes and had no idea that the facility was ever to be used for anything other than that purpose. The fact that this idea was ever suggested raises a number of questions which I felt it necessary to air, and was hopeful that your publication might be able to offer some answers or insight.

Having read the article, I did some research of my own and it would appear that the National Horse Arena already runs ‘training shows’ three days a week. All of the press releases from the opening of the facility seem to say the facility would be available on a ‘‘community commercial” basis to those who are aspiring for success in international competition’, are there any procedures in place to ensure that the facility is being used by those aspiring for success at international level, such as FEI passport checks of FEI rider licence checks, or are these ‘training shows’ just unregistered mini, midi, maxi type shows? If so, is this the best use of taxpayers’ money I ask, and is this what we want from our world class training facility?

As a follow on, I did some research into the planning which was granted by Fingal County Council to the National Sports Campus Development Authority. In the original planning application, there was provision for parking granted for 30 cars and only eight equestrian vehicles such as horseboxes and lorries. The reason given for this was that larger numbers of vehicles would not be there as it was not a show venue, as alluded to in the article. If there are only eight parking space allocated for equestrian vehicles then how can the National Horse Arena facilitate shows from various HSI affiliates which it currently does?

It would appear that the facility has hosted shows for Dressage Ireland, AIRC and an amateur show for SJI amongst others, surely these shows had an attendance of more than eight equestrian vehicles, and if they did have an attendance greater than this, where did the competitors park without being in breach of terms of the planning permission granted by Fingal County Council? Also, how would any insurance policies work if there were more than eight equestrian vehicles present and an incident occurred? Would the taxpayer end up forking out money in this situation due to insurance being voided?

It would appear to me as an outsider looking in, that somebody somewhere within the walls of the National Sports Campus has made the decision that the National Horse Arena needs to make some money, and in doing so, has completely diverged from the original concept of a training and education facility. Surely running clinics and training days for our elite and upcoming athletes and workshops etc for our coaches would be a far better way to achieve this?

I for one do not believe that what is currently happening at the National Horse Arena was the original idea for our state-owned elite training venue.

Yours etc,

Roswyn Barnes

Athboy

Co Meath