Mr. Joe Keeling:

I thank the Chairman for the invitation to attend here today. The board agreed that I would appear today with my three fellow board members, Dr. Meta Osborne, Mr. John Moloney and Mr. John Powell. I am chairman of Horse Racing Ireland. I am also chairman and former CEO of the Keeling Group that employs in excess of 1,700 people. I have a number of my board colleagues here with me today.

Horse racing is a life long passion of mine. I have been a sponsor, an owner, a breeder and a racegoer for many years. Our industry returns over €1 billion every year to the Irish economy and employs more than 14,000 people. It is one in which Ireland has natural advantages. I am confident that we can grow it into a €2 billion industry, but to do so we need to have the best team in place.

I apologise to this committee about the way that the appointment process was handled. It could have been done better and I take responsibility for this matter. When I became chairman of Horse Racing Ireland, I became aware that Mr. Brian Kavanagh’s contract was due to end in September 2016. I decided to look for an extension because I took the view that Irish racing needed to retain his skills and expertise. This was due to the specialist knowledge that he brought to the position and the need for stability and experience at a time of much change for the organisation.

The Government's guidelines on this area allow exceptions to be made where the person brings scarce expertise or special qualifications to a role, and I believe that this is a case in point. In 2011, the HRI board asked the then chairman, Mr. Denis Brosnan, to deal with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine regarding the CEO’s contract and his ability to be reappointed. This task passed to me when I took over from Mr. Brosnan. I accept that there were problems with the sequence of events and the communications between myself, the Department and the HRI board but that is all. There have been errors but no wrongdoing. I reject claims that Departments or Ministers were intentionally misled or that I misrepresented the views of the board in my dealings with the Department. The board has since confirmed this, most recently in a statement that was issued after its meeting on 27 September.

There has been much said on the issue of a business case for Mr. Kavanagh’s reappointment that the board had not reviewed. What is referred to as a business case is in fact points made in a series of letters between myself and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in terms of extending the contract. The Department used the term business case in its briefing notes to the new Ministers that were published on its website in May.

I was always aware that it was a decision for the board of HRI to approve an appointment of a chief executive but first I needed to establish the position of the relevant Departments. I made this my priority so I could present the full facts to the board. This took longer than expected, partly due to a general election and the absence of a Government for three months. The matter has been dealt with by the HRI’s remuneration committee since April of this year but, with hindsight, should have been brought to the board earlier.

The appointment was approved by the board at its meeting on 21 July on the same terms, conditions and salary as the previous contract. At that meeting, the board agreed that Mr. Kavanagh was the right person for the role. The concerns raised were around the process and the issue of succession planning within the organisation. Dr. Meta Osborne, vice chairperson of HRI, will shortly outline the measures that the board has now put in place to ensure that such a situation does not arise again. The board is satisfied that Mr Kavanagh’s reappointment is the best outcome for the HRI and the industry at this time. Both the board and Mr. Kavanagh have agreed that this will be his final term as chief executive.

Horse racing is a great industry. Only last week, in the most prestigious flat race in the world, Irish bred horses filled seven of the first ten places and Mr. Aidan O’Brien became the first person ever to train the horses ranked first, second and third in the race. 2016 has been a record year on the track for Irish horses and we have just completed a successful yearling sales season. Racecourse development is happening around the country and, thanks to the new offshore betting tax regime, the net cost to Government of funding horse and greyhound racing this year will be almost €20 million euro lower than last year.

In conclusion, I once again express regret at the issues that have arisen from this process and confirm that the board have taken measures to address this governance matter for the future. I ask all parties to unite behind this industry and work together in facing the challenge of delivering a €2 billion annual return to the Irish economy.