Results 3,681-3,700 of 17,012 for speaker:Paul Kehoe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: Has a prohibitive substance ever been discovered in horse feed supplied to any of the trainers Mr. Grassick has known in recent times?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: I am sure there is a huge supply to Mr. Grassick and his organisation. Like Senator Daly said, we want to make sure that the high standards of this industry remain. What kind of research did the IRTA do when it discovered that prohibitive substances were discovered in horse feed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: What is Mr. Grassick's attitude to pre-race testing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: Does the IRTA have zero tolerance towards prohibited drugs? Does it believe that the licence of a horse trainer should be removed forever if the trainer is caught with prohibited drugs? Is that necessary if we are to have very high standards in Irish horse racing? What are the views of Mr. Grassick on zero tolerance?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: What is the view of the IRTA on the role of CCTV at race tracks and their environs?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: Is the IHRB fit for purpose, given that CCTV systems are not in place? I acknowledge that Mr. Grassick is not a member of the IHRB but I am interested in his views on the matter because my understanding is that funding was made available for CCTV but it still has not been installed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: Should the IHRB have put the CCTV in place?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: To follow on from the points made by Senator Mullen, I know the IRTA has a representative on the IHRB but does Mr. Grassick consider the IHRB to be a closed shop? It receives more than €10 million of taxpayers' money but has no accountability and nobody knows what salaries are being paid to its employees. Does he think that is right?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: I wish to put on record that I am fully supportive of the industry. One of the reasons I sent the original correspondence to the committee was that when I saw all of this in the public domain, I knew there was only way to resolve it and that was to bring in representatives of all those involved in the industry to defend their position. I have always supported the horse and greyhound...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: What percentage of registered trainers are not members of the IRTA?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: I welcome the witnesses back to the committee. I wish to return to a question I asked Mr. Egan and Mr. Kavanagh previously. I am not sure if my question was fully understood. It concerns the issue of gallop fees. I am not sure if they fully understood. I am talking about fees paid by trainers to use the Curragh gallops. I want to find out how these are fees used and whether both Mr. Egan...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: Does Mr. Egan have anything to add on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: We discussed at the previous session the IHRB accounts for 2018 and we spoke about the correction of €1.6 million. Considering it is July, where are the accounts for 2020? When the board is looking for best governance, best practice and everything like that, when does Mr. Egan expect that the accounts will be filed and why are they being delayed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: According to an internal note I have seen, the IHRB hired PRISM Leadership and Change Consulting in 2020 for an employee survey and interviews were carried out on 5 May 2020. On 5 August 2020, a gentleman from PRISM stated the review had been completed - I do not want to mention his name - and the company would come back with findings in September. Could Mr. Egan apprise the committee of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: How much was spent on this consultancy firm?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: For what reason did Mr. Egan think he had to bring in this consultancy firm?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: In 2016, the IHRB provided €1.8 million for new and improved equipment at BHP Laboratories in Limerick. In 2018, the board terminated the contract with BHP. I have seen correspondence on this. What happened to the €1.8 million? Was that returned to the IHRB and did the board seek to recoup any of it as this would have been taxpayers' money it received from HRI?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: Could Mr. Egan come back to the clerk to the committee with that information?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: Are there any personal connections between the IHRB and BHP given that Dr. Hillyer cited BHP when dismissing Mr. Paul Kimmage's story the weekend before last citing the BHP examination of the issue? That is one issue. Of the six horses from Ireland sent to the UK trainers, three tested positive on hair samples for keto steroids. A leading toxicologist carried out an 11- page expert report....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2021)

Paul Kehoe: On that, I read this weekend where Mr. Kimmage tried to get in contact with Dr. Hillyer. If we are to have a sound racing horse racing industry, why not sit down with Mr. Kimmage face to face and clear whatever is in the air there once and for all? I was a Minister for nine and a half years and if somebody had an issue, I would sit down with him or her and clear the air unless for legal...