Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There were terms in place for all other members and staff or the board, but the former CEO received above and beyond them. We need to know why that happened. We have no understanding of it as yet, and we need to find out. This is a body that is 100% publicly-funded. It is funded by Horse Racing Ireland, HRI, via the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is a strange relationship, because the Department provides a grant through a unique mechanism to HRI every year through the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund. The first unique aspect of the funding is it is divided between two distinct organisations on an 80:20 split regardless of what either annual plan is and there have been questions about that. HRI is funding the body that regulates it from its own funding, as opposed to the regulatory body being directly funded by the Department.

Within that, the IHRB decided to pay a former CEO more than it was legally obliged to and more than was required under its own early retirement package. The IHRB has sent us correspondence talking about the sensitivity of the situation and what have you. I want to know how and why the board came to that decision. What financial rationale was there for paying an individual more than they were entitled to of public money? This is not a semi-State body where there might be arguments about other income, but a 100% taxpayer-funded body that is under a lot of scrutiny for its performance. I will not let this matter drop until the IHRB, HRI or the Department stands over this and explains how we got to this point. I ask members to do likewise.