Horse racing bodies to appear before Dáil committee next week amid abattoir revelations

Image recorded in the abattoir in Straffan Co Kildare.

AMID SERIOUS REVELATIONS about the wider equine industry on RTÉ earlier this week, the governing and regulatory bodies of the horse racing sector are to appear before the Public Accounts Committee in the Oireachtas.

The appearances will examine alleged financial discrepancies in the accounts of an industry body, but will come just days after an RTÉ Investigates exposé about the industry.

TDs from Kildare and Waterford – where the sector has a large foothold – expressed concern at the disclosures, adding that they “undermine the industry” as a result.

RTÉ Investigations used hidden cameras at the site of Shannonside Foods Ltd in Straffan, Co Kildare – Ireland’s only active abattoir for horses – which uncovered animal welfare abuses and cruelty towards horses being sent for slaughter.

In a statement to RTÉ Investigates, Shannonside Foods Ltd said any allegation of an equine being mistreated “will be fully investigated” by the company.

In addition to this, RTÉ Investigates said it was able to analyse data which allowed it to profile the background of horses being sent for slaughter. Its analysis found that two-thirds of horses sent to the abattoir were thoroughbred racers.

Social Democrats TD for Kildare North Catherine Murphy said it was important that officials from the Department of Agriculture will also be appearing before the committee.

She said there are a range of questions arising from what’s emerged this week, including the oversight the department may have over the sector and why it was not aware of what was happening.

In the programme, it was outlined that official Department of Agriculture inspectors do not have a remit to regulate or inspect the building where hidden cameras were used.

“The department is the regulator so where was the regulation? That’s the fundamental question. It shouldn’t have taken Prime Time Investigates in an incredibly good programme to identify that there’s several problems,” Murphy told The Journal.

“There are huge amounts of public funding involved here and it’s just absolutely outrageous.

“I imagine the people that are the straight players, who are with horses day-in and day-out, are very angry that this could happen because they’re acutely aware of just how damaging how this. It undermines the whole industry.”

Committee member and Green Party TD Marc Ó Cathasaigh said that “hard questions” will need to be asked of the industry bodies.

He said the programme highlighted “disturbing and distressing scenes”, adding that he has concerns over claims that the human food chain in Europe will has been “compromised”.

The Waterford TD said he welcomed the intervention by the food fraud division at the EU Commission which issued alerts for horses slaughtered in Ireland, Italy and Spain yesterday.

“Next week’s appearance by Horse Racing Ireland before the Public Accounts Committee is timely and vitally important, given that they have developed the identity systems required for traceability. Hard questions need to be asked,” Ó Cathasaigh said.

Reacting to the programme last week, Horse Racing Ireland said it was “deeply shocked and appalled” by the revelations in the documentary.

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue also described the scenes in the programme as “abhorrent, distressing, and absolutely unacceptable”.

McConalogue noted that an investigation is already underway alongside gardaí, and that the investigation commenced after the Department received evidence from RTÉ.

According to a statement by the minister, the agenda of next Thursday’s meeting relates to HRI’s 2022 audited financial statements.

Last year during a PAC appearance, the IHRB admitted that a “grave” financial issue had arisen unexpectedly over its accounts.

Murphy said the PAC had found it “unsatisfactory” trying to get explanations for the serious financial issue that emerged, and hopes to get to the bottom of the matter next week.

Ó Cathasaigh noted that the IHRB published its annual report this week which “includes a disclosure that €350,000 was transferred from the Jockeys’ Emergency Fund, a charity bank account under the control of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, to the Board’s bank account” in January 2022.

“This money was then repaid by the Board to the charity account in April 2022, and that this is what gave rise to the concern regarding financial governance in 2023,” Ó Cathasaigh said.

As The Journal reported last October, there was also a discrepancy amounting to tens of thousands of euro it had provided to various charitable organisations in the sector catering to injured jockeys.