HORSE Sport Ireland remained tight-lipped this week in the wake of continued leaks of highly sensitive board information which also saw detailed personal information about former and present named staff members hit the national headlines.
The bitter fallout continued to be played out in some of the Sunday papers, evidence of the continued deep divisions still very much at play between some members of the past resigned board and Horse Sport Ireland management.
The new high powered board of former chair of the Kerry Group, Michael Dowling (chair), UCD Professor Niamh Brennan, Zoe Kavanagh, CEO of the National Dairy Council, and former Chief Financial Officer at DAFM, Dr Kevin Smyth, were swiftly appointed to Horse Sport Ireland by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD (FF) last Thursday evening, immediately bringing stability to the Naas-based organisation.
However, virtually chapter and verse on certain named staffs’ workplace difficulties with their current employer was released to the national papers. Other national media also received the same information but did not use the staff files.
Efforts to find out what steps are being proactively taken at HSI HQ to stem the leaking of sensitive information met with terse responses this week.
Not only did the perfunctory responses to a raft of questions from The Irish Fieldfail to shed any light on the situation, it did even less to instill any confidence that there would be no further leaks of board material or the personal data of the affected staff.
The Irish Field questions to Horse Sport Ireland:
Q. Has the new board of ministerial appointees met with management at Horse Sport Ireland yet– and if not, have they been in contact re: setting up a future meeting soon?
A. HSI does not comment publicly on matters pertaining to Board meetings.
Q. When will the other four members of the board, those drawn from the sport horse industry, be elected/appointed?
A.That is a matter for the new Board.
Q. Is the probation period of CEO Denis Duggan now over - is Denis now the officially confirmed CEO of Horse Sport Ireland?
A. It would not be appropriate for HSI to comment on contractual matters relating to a specific employee.
Q. There is a large amount of confidential board material, some detailing named individual staff cases, past and present, in circulation in the national media.
Have the Gardaí and the Data Protection Office been informed by Horse Sport Ireland of the ongoing leaks of this confidential board material and if so, when was this done? If it has not been done, why not?
A. HSI has met its statutory obligations in relation to this matter, but it would not be appropriate for HSI to make any further comment.
Q. Has Horse Sport Ireland launched an investigation into how this material, came to be leaked and who leaked it?
A. It would not be appropriate for HSI to comment on such matters.
Q. What steps is Horse Sport Ireland taking to protect the private details and internal communications of its staff, past and present, from further leaks?
A. It would not be appropriate for HSI to comment on such matters.