THE long-awaited report by consultants Mazars into financial irregularities in the 2022 accounts of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board is set to be published within weeks.

The Irish Field understands that the IHRB top brass has already received a draft copy of the report and some final amendments are being made before it is published. Officials from the IHRB are due to appear before the Public Accounts Committee on June 20th, suggesting the report will be in the public domain at that time.

Asked for an update on the status of the report, an IHRB spokesperson told The Irish Field: "Mazars continue to work on the review and, as such, the report hasn't been completed yet. It is the intention of the IHRB to publish the findings and recommendations when the report is finalised."

There has been plenty of speculation on the nature of the issues of "grave concern" in the IHRB accounts, as described by IHRB chief executive Darragh O'Loughlin when he appeared before the PAC a year ago. O'Loughlin said at the time he could not comment any further on the matter until it had been fully investigated. He said that, to the best of his knowledge, no monies has been misappropriated and nobody had gained financially from the issue under investigation. He confirmed that the IHRB's financial controller Donal O'Shea would be on leave while that investigation was carried out.

A report in The Irish Examiner suggested that the matter involved money being moved in and out of a fund connected to jockey welfare, a theory which has been repeated to The Irish Field by industry sources. It is thought that funds earmarked for jockey support schemes were improperly transferred or 'bed and breakfasted' in another IHRB account over a three-week period, possibly at a time after Denis Egan had vacated the chief executive post but before O'Loughlin had been appointed.

Some have suggested there is a link between the bookkeeping discrepancies and the €384,000 retirement package given to Egan in 2021. Although the 'golden handshake' was 58% more than the maximum payment permitted under the IHRB's early retirement scheme, the IHRB says the surplus consisted of an additional payment to Egan funded by the Turf Club and Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee. "The IHRB did not contribute to this additional payment and no public funds were used as part of it," a spokesperson for the IHRB said at the time.

THE finances of the Curragh Racecourse could be on the agenda when Horse Racing Ireland officials appear before the Public Accounts Committee on June 20th. The agenda of the meeting relates to HRI's 2022 audited financial statements.

Earlier this month the chairman of the PAC, Brian Stanley, said he had received correspondence from HRI's chief executive Suzanne Eade on the issue of the Curragh's finances. Stanley told the PAC: "Members may recall that a convertible loan of €9 million was given by HRI to the Curragh Racecourse for redevelopment. There has been a loss. It is indicated in the correspondence that the loss was €1.4 million for the period ending December 2022. From what I see in front of me - I will not give the [2023] figures - it looks like it will not return to profitability at that point. It is one we will have to keep a watch on for future public sector entities ... because there is substantial investment of public money in the Curragh racetrack."

RTÉ'S current affairs programme Prime Time is preparing to broadcast a report on the link between Irish racing and horse slaughter within the next two or three weeks, The Irish Field understands. Three years ago BBC's Panorama team reported that 4,000 former racehorses were slaughtered in Britain and Ireland between 2019 and 2021, and that "most, but not all, were trained in Ireland."

That programme prompted Horse Racing Ireland to ask An Garda Siochána and the Department of Agriculture to follow up allegations of apparent microchip fraud and the transport of horses from Ireland to a British abattoir.

An email query sent to the Prime Time team by The Irish Field requesting more information on the programme failed to elicit a reply at time of going to press.