Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While I have some sympathy for the board of Horse Racing Ireland, in 2009, the individual members of the board were at fault when they allowed the contract of the chief executive officer to run beyond his seven-year term. Guidelines and codes of practice are subservient to employment law. Contracts of indefinite duration, CIDs, have gone through the courts, which have taken a very strong line on how contracts are applied. When a contract is extended even one day beyond its term, the holder has a contract of indefinite duration. Regardless of whether we like it, that is what the board was left with.