ECONOMIST Colm McCarthy has been appointed into a consultancy role by Horse Sport Ireland with the brief to advise the HSI board on the economic and commercial balance on their Greenogue decision.

Asked by The Irish Field this week were they considering engaging independent consultants, interim CEO Joe Reynolds replied they had already done so.

“Economist Colm McCarthy has been engaged as a consultant, he is totally independent, and will write a comprehensive report on our Greenogue proposals. He brings an enormous reputation to the table. We are asking him did we do the right thing, that’s what we are asking him here basically. I’m happy we have done it,’’ confirmed Reynolds.

He added the economist had been given this brief in recent weeks and a comprehensive pack of “all the documents” involved. It’s expected McCarthy’s report will take some weeks to complete.

Chefs back move

Irish show jumping chef d’equipe, Michael Blake, publicly voiced his backing for HSI’s move to Greenogue.

“The move by HSI to its new permanent home in Greenogue is a forward-thinking initiative that will go a long way towards ensuring excellent facilities for our up-and-coming riders. This facility is an encouraging move forward towards having a centre of excellence that can benefit, breeders, producers and riders alike. It is an excellent step in the right direction for the industry as a whole,” he said.

Eventing chef d’equipe Sally Corscadden said: “In this Olympic year, it is really great to have a facility like Greenogue to use. For our youth teams it is really important. It has everything you need for an eventing team to train – stables, great facilities and good access for final team training before the horses leave from nearby Dublin Port. This is something that can only benefit our High Performance eventing teams.”