HRI owners' representative begins litigation proceedings against AIRO

The Association of Irish Racehorse Owners' (AIRO) representative on the HRI board has begun litigation proceedings against the organisation, prompting AIRO to postpone a meeting that was due to result in the appointment of his proposed successor.

James Gough, a County Meath-based businessman, on Thursday initiated proceedings in the High Court before Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds to stall the election of Caren Walsh to the HRI board as he believes her nomination came about because of an undemocratic process, resulting in her name being the only one on a ballot paper circulated to members.

Gough is seeking an injunction to prevent Walsh's appointment and he is suing AIRO for damages and costs arising from an alleged breach of contract. Gough failed to get a fellow council member to second his candidature for re-election.

AIRO has agreed to postpone a meeting scheduled for Tuesday while legal proceedings are ongoing and is due to file a replying affidavit before the case returns for mention in early March.

Gough has also written to the minister for agriculture Michael Creed to stall the election process as it is within the minister's remit to rule on the original dispute. He is contesting the manner in which the AIRO constitution was changed in 2014 to allow only the 12 council members to propose and second a candidate from their own number for the HRI board.

Gough was elected in 2012 when the 1,500-plus membership were able to vote via a new postal ballot system that was undertaken by Ernst and Young.

Gough won 54 per cent of the vote but was prevented from taking his position at the HRI table for more than two years due to objections from a third party. His four-year term is due up in March.

At AIRO's 2014 annual general meeting, a motion was proposed to change the constitution to allow only the 12 members to nominate a candidate for the HRI board, and it also proposed that the chair and vice chair could do so, where they were previously precluded from doing so.

The subsequent minutes of the AGM were seconded by Gough, who argues the detail relating to the removal of the full membership's ability to nominate/second a candidate was not present in the summary minutes he seconded.

"It would be ludicrous for me to second a motion that would take away the right of the membership to nominate a candidate," Gough responded when contacted by the Racing Post on Thursday.

"They are the very membership that elected me through independent scrutineers in Ernst and Young and I fought against this type of undemocratic system for ten years.

"The detail is not contained in the official minutes of the meeting, and taking away the members' right to nominate discriminates against and disenfranchises them.

"All I wanted was to contest the election and be able to put my case to the membership, but I've been prevented from doing that."

Aiden Burns, AIRO's manager, confirmed AIRO has agreed to defer Tuesday's meeting. "There seems to be a bit of an issue but hopefully it will be resolved in the near future," he said.

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