John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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1965. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the level of funding allocated by Horse Sport Ireland to the sport horse industry in each of the past five years; the number of staff employed by the organisation over the past five years; if there is a large turnover of staff; if exceptional costs were incurred by the organisation in the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29180/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I have contacted Horse Sport Ireland and they have informed me that with the support of the Department of Agriculture; Food and the Marine, they have supported the Horse Sport Industry through schemes, initiatives and activities as detailed below.

Separately funded by Sport Ireland and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Horse Sport Ireland has supported the Horse Sport Sector as follows:

In addition they inform me that they provide a range of indirect administrative and support services to the industry and sector as a whole, which is not included in the above figures, as they reflect direct funding into the industry.

In addition the number of staff, excluding non-executive directors, have ranged from an average of 35 staff in earlier years to an average of 50 in 2022. This increase is driven by the implementation of on the Indecon report, increasing activity levels and a desire for delivery of improved service levels.

Horse Sport Ireland has tended to recruit seasonal staff on contracts of one year duration to meet seasonal demands such as at foal registration time. The seasonality of employment has impacted on overall staff turnover which is approximately in the range of 25-30% over recent years. In the past two years, employment practices with Horse Sport Ireland have focussed on aiming to provide for more continuity and improved service levels. The Management within Horse Sport Ireland has an expectation, subject to any efficiencies, that staff turnover levels will moderate.

As the Deputy will be aware, there is larger macro-economic trend often referred to by many recruitment specialists as “the great resignation”, where many employees across the economy, or sectors of the economy globally, are either leaving their jobs or considering leaving their jobs for different roles, terms & conditions, etc. Horse Sport Ireland, similar to most other employers, is not immune to forces in the employment marketplace.

In an effort to enhance and augment the workplace culture within Horse Sport Ireland, its recently appointed Chief Executive Officer has recruited a Human Resource manager to support the organisation in becoming an employer of choice within the equestrian industry.

HSI has also informed me as with any business, exceptional costs arise from time to time. In its organisation, there were a number of one-off costs in recent years, such as meeting and implementing the recommendations of the 2017 Indecon Report. In certain years, it is not unusual to have exceptional costs incurred on expenditure regarding the Olympic Games or World Equestrian Games, which is funded from Sport Ireland and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and not within my Departments vote.