Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

HRI said it was open to this in 2016. It would be helpful if there were some action on that. There is something bothering me. Ms Eade acknowledged the progress that has been made and spoke about HRI's synergies and work with the IHRB. She praised the proposed changes to its board. HRI is the funding organisation for the IHRB. It remains the case that it is a closed shop in respect of appointments to the board. As has been ventilated at length and reflected to some degree in the previous report of this committee, best practice would be for a majority of members of the board of the IHRB to be people who have no hand, act or part in the owning, breeding or selling of horses. It needs to be truly independent both to ensure serious integrity and for there to be the perception that the board is serious about integrity. HRI seems to be waiting to see IHRB is going to do and seems happy enough if it adds in a woman or two to increase gender diversity along with one or two people from the outside. Is it not starting from the wrong place there, however? Should HRI not be insisting that, by a given deadline, the majority of members of the board would be completely neutral and independent so that it is no longer the fiefdom of the Turf Club that it currently is?