Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for letting me back in. It is fair to say we have heard a cry for help today from the sport horse sector, which is founded in a genuine concern among sport horse producers. It is great to see the sector doing so well. The Chairman stopped short of saying it is outperforming racing at this time. It is good to see that.

We need to crystallise one point. There might be some suggestion arising out of this meeting that there is an opportunity in the new board structure for the constituent groups to have representation on the new board. It is clearly set out in appendix 1 under the proposed guideline the skill set that is required of applicants. This seems to be so restrictive and exclusive that it would eliminate any of the nominees the organisations represented here today could put forward. Let us call a spade a spade. In reality, nobody from the witnesses' sector will end up on the newly constituted Horse Sport Ireland board.

I have a question arising from that. In regard to the four council nominees that were ready, in the likelihood of the Minister agreeing to press the pause button on the current review or proposing to reconstitute the board, would the witnesses be happy for those four nominees to be on the board at this point, if they were willing to do so? We have to take on board that the Minister's nominees are all very capable within their own industries and fields. They are experts in finance, business, economics, audit, public administration, corporate governance and all of that. However, this new board, if constituted in the direction outlined by Sport Horse Ireland and specifically in appendix 1, really will shut the door on the industry expertise we need on the board. Will Mr. Corrigan respond quickly on whether the appointment of the four nominees would be an agreeable path for the witnesses as very much an interim solution?