THE Equestrian Competition Venues Owners Alliance (ECOVA) are calling for capital funding to be made available from the Government through the governing bodies to support the equestrian venues around the country.

“We want to stop the rot; we want to stop the horses and athletes going [abroad], we want to get as much help as we can to keep the horses and the athletes and improve the facilities,” Robert Fagan, owner of Mullingar Equestrian Centre, told the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine last week.

“Most of the 18 or 20 venues that are part of our association are family-run businesses spread throughout the 32 counties and they are very rural and have a rural basis. Maybe there is a perception that we are commercial and, as a result, we are not able to tap into the likes of the Sport Ireland funding for capital investment and so on, so we are at a huge disadvantage there,” Fagan commented.

“These venues are a community for people who compete in pony clubs, dressage, eventing or hunting. We are multi-disciplined and we create that facility for those people to use. If we were to compare facilities with the likes of Sweden, Belgium or Holland, which rank high in the equestrian Olympic disciplines, they get massive support and they get it from their communities, county councils and governments.”

Compared to racecourses

Independent TD, Michael Fitzmaurice, said: “Generally, applicants for sports capital grants have to be a not-for-profit community group or a club.

“There is no point in someone out there thinking he or she might get a sports capital grant, because the terms and conditions would have to change and we have to be honest with the representatives about that. While they might be giving a service to communities or whatever, they probably still do not let people use the place for nothing and they do not do it for charity.”

Fagan replied: “I would like to compare us to the racecourses. They are able to access capital funding through their governing body, Horse Racing Ireland (HRI). Could such a mechanism be put in place whereby we could access that? It is investment in rural Ireland, strategically throughout the country. It is not a trophy centre of excellence in the middle of a city.”

To a question posed by Fitzmaurice if the centres could get funding under TAMS III, Fagan added: “Many of the things we look at include course [arena] surfaces. These are very expensive because good facilities are required for the welfare of the horse when it is competing. That is important. That costs a lot of money. That does not fall under it.

“TAMS is fantastic, but we were at a different end of it. It is important we can provide the best facilities to compete with the standards that are used abroad.”

In terms of prize money, Fagan explained that the venues that play host to big shows, like his family do in Mullingar, have to raise the prize money.

“Because we run a lot of these events, we are the ones who have to source that prize money, which is a huge challenge every year. Through sponsorship and support, we give €200,000 or €300,000 at different events throughout the year. To compare it to racing, racing does not have the same challenge we have.”

Recognition on the board

Fagan added: “As to what we want out of this meeting today, from the venues’ point of view, we would like recognition on the board of HSI. We have an alliance. We are holding the party and we are putting our own hands in our pockets because we are passionate about it and because that is all we know.

“What we would hope is that the venues could get either a memorandum of understanding or representation on the board of Horse Sport Ireland. It was referenced at the last meeting here by the CEO [of HSI] that we are a loose organisation. For the past six years, we have been an organisation and we have a memorandum of understanding.

“We have looked for dialogue with Horse Sport Ireland and we have not got it. On numerous occasions, we have been told we will get it the next week or the next month.

“We feel very disillusioned because we have a major stake in the game. Everyone works together and gets on well together but there is one catalyst that is just not working for us at the moment.”