Irish authorities accused of lacking 'meaningful' response on anti-doping

Irish racing authorities have been accused of making little 'meaningful' progress in advancing recommendations made by the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee at an update hearing on the sport's anti-doping processes and wider systems.

Representatives from the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board were also challenged over the independence of a recently published anti-doping audit by former New South Wales chief veterinary officer Craig Suann, with senator Paul Daly suggesting "people could be sceptical" over certain aspects of how the remote report was conducted.

Wednesday's nearly two-and-a-half-hour meeting, which also featured input from Horse Racing Ireland director of equine welfare and bloodstock John Osborne and officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, reviewed the steps that have been taken since the publication of a 34-page document by the Agriculture Committee in November.

Despite delivering a broadly supportive analysis of the IHRB's approach to drug testing, changes to provide greater sampling, regulatory transparency and equine traceability were prominent in the report that had been prompted by Jim Bolger's claim that "there will be a Lance Armstrong in Irish racing".

Delivering an independent anti-doping audit had been one recommendation made by the Agriculture Committee, and Suann's paper determined that Ireland's anti-doping systems are "at least matching international best practice".

Sinn Fein TD Matt Carthy took particular exception with an opening statement remark from Osborne that HRI is "satisfied that progress has been made on all fronts" in relation to implementing the Agriculture Committee's recommendations.

John Osborne: 'We're doing things in the right way rather than at a specific pace because we want to get the right outcome for a lot of these recommendations'Credit: Oireachtas TV

Carthy challenged representatives on the status of several individual recommendations and was not convinced that sufficient progress had been made in most areas, except regarding the salaries of IHRB employees being made more readily available.

New ground was broken when IHRB board of directors chairman Martin O’Donnell revealed the salary of incoming chief executive Darragh O'Loughlin will be €180,000 annually, explaining: "The figure was agreed with HRI and I believe there was a requirement that it would be in line with salary of the HRI CEO."

HRI chief executive Suzanne Eade is understood to earn €174,773 in the first year of her role, €182,773 in year two and €190,773 per annum for the remainder of her seven-year term.

Carthy said: "We as a committee have made a number of recommendations, observations and conclusions following consultation with all players in the sector and the general public. The reason we did so, and spent so much time, is because there is a lot of public unease and a lot of public distrust that the systems in place are [not] robust, fair and above all independent.

"I have to say, even the responses we get back again aren't up to the standard that would be required in order for us to say with confidence that this sector is above recourse and above reproach.

Matt Carthy: critical that further steps have not been taken to advance Oireachtas Agriculture Committee recommendationsCredit: Oireachtas TV

"Going through the recommendations and the responses that we have seen, I have to ask Mr Osborne if he still stands over his statement in respect of the implementation of recommendations of this committee."

Osborne responded: "I see progress, I'm not saying that we've completed it, but we're making progress."

"Go through the recommendations," countered Carthy. "I will acknowledge that the IHRB have improved their system in respect of the transparency in relation to pay scales.

"Outside of that recommendation, I can't say that any others have actually been implemented in any meaningful way whatsoever."

Osborne later added: "I stand by what I said earlier. I do think that progress has been made on all fronts, albeit some of it is slower than we'd like for reasons that are perfectly explainable, to a certain extent outside of our control.

"We're doing things in the right way rather than at a specific pace because we want to get the right outcome for a lot of these recommendations. I think we're doing very well on the integrity and reputation front."

Daly queried how Suann had been selected as IHRB's anti-doping auditor, and questioned if his previous international collaborations with IHRB chief veterinary officer and head of anti-doping Dr Lynn Hillyer "might have hindered the independence somewhat".

Dr Lynn Hillyer: 'We opened the doors to him, gave access to any of our databases, systems and all staff'Credit: Oireachtas TV

It was also established that requests for information in order to complete the report "would have gone through Dr Hillyer and her staff" due to Suann conducting the report remotely as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.

Daly said: "When you do a quick Google on Dr Suann without going too deep below the surface, you get a lot of correlation between he and Dr Hillyer where [they] have served on the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities and are co-signatories to many different reports."

Hillyer suggested the number of individuals globally with expertise and experience to undertake such a review could be counted on one hand, and that securing the right person to complete the audit was vital to the project.

She said that the option remains open for Suann to assess the IHRB's systems in person "should there be a need or direction to do so" in future.

Hillyer explained: "We opened the doors to him, gave access to any of our databases, systems and all staff. He had open access to everything he wanted.

"It wasn't so much us giving him the information we felt he wanted - he came with long, long lists of what he needed and he had everything we could give. That included interviews with staff - I wasn't present or involved - and access to all our records."

Michael Sheahan, Caroline Ball and Tim Drea represented the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine at Wednesday's meetingCredit: Oireachtas TV

Also in the Agriculture Committee's report was the suggestion to consider altering legislation in order to "reclassify the IHRB as a semi state body under the aegis of DAFM to ensure complete transparency in its governance".

However, having assessed the recommendation, DAFM principal officer Caroline Ball said: "The department came to the belief that the existing model in Ireland, and underpinned by Irish legislation, is the best fit for this country."

DAFM's deputy chief veterinary officer Michael Sheahan explained that another recommendation for vets and technicians to oversee racehorse sampling was "carefully considered but we didn't see any merit in the suggestion so we don't intend to employ department vets to do the sampling at racecourses".

Interim IHRB chief executive Cliodhna Guy produced figures to show the number of tests conducted from January to April 2022 are considerably higher than the same period last year, with 2,009 for this year compared to 968 in the 2021 window. This was driven by an increase in out-of-competition testing.

Cliodhna Guy: says CCTV systems are set to be installed at Irish racecourses by the autumnCredit: Oireachtas TV

A lack of racecourse CCTV coverage has been a major bone of contention in previous Agriculture Committee hearings, and Guy revealed that after delays: "The project is planned to be completed by autumn this year."

Eade was not present at the meeting, a point raised by Carthy, but the new HRI boss will attend a separate public meeting with the Agriculture Committee regarding "strategic priorities for horseracing in Ireland" on Wednesday 15 June at 5.30pm.

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