Mr. Desmond McFadden:

As well as being vice chairman of Showjumping Ireland, I have been chairman of the national pony committee for the past four to five years. One of the main situations that has happened is the lack of trust. There is no trust between the affiliates and Horse Sport Ireland. There has certainly been a complete fall-down. I have attended meetings with Horse Sport Ireland for the past two and a half years. At the very start, the situation was we looked for some money for ponies. As most people sitting here probably know, in the past four to five years, the success of ponies for Ireland has been second to none. We are the envy of the world in the way we have won gold, silver, bronze and individual medals. We won everything. Horse Sport Ireland gives nothing towards that at all.

In one case, I looked for some extra money. It is all down to a lack of trust and no trust between the affiliates and Horse Sport Ireland, as I said. On one occasion, when the ponies were going out to jump at one of the European shows, we were told Horse Sport Ireland would not send them. It is the body that has to send the registrations and everything through before the ponies go, but it told us it could not send them because it did not have any money. We could not have any money to pay the entry fees. I turned round and said the following.

We will transfer the entry fee, whatever it is, from Showjumping Ireland, to Horse Sport Ireland to pay the NGBs. They came back to me and said the actual amount they need for the entry fee is almost €13,000. In the process of trying to get that transferred, I discovered there was no entry fee. The parents were paying the entry fee. The only money given by Horse Sport Ireland to the ponies is the entry fees for the European championships. It gives no money of any description. A lot of the problem lies there. The whole thing fell down and it is gone beyond repair.