THE Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board has appointed Angela Flanagan as its first independent director. Formerly a special adviser to Taoisigh Enda Kenny and Leo Varadkar, Flanagan will join the board on January 1st.

Her appointment comes over a year after an Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture report recommended that the IHRB add independent directors.

Addressing this week’s IHRB anti-doping seminar, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said: “There is an under-representation of women on the boards of many organisations across agriculture and related sectors. I have recently reminded organisations under my own aegis that more work is needed to appoint women to their boards, and the IHRB is no exception.

“With that in mind I welcome the recent appointment of the first independent director to the board of the IHRB, Angela Flanagan, who will join the board on January 1st.”