Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine to hold separate engagements on Brexit fund and governance issues at Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board

The meeting at 5.30pm in Committee Room 3 of Leinster House will be split into two sessions:

5:30pm – Access to Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) fund with officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine;

6:30pm – Governance issues at the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) with representatives of the IHRB.

Committee Cathaoirleach Deputy Jackie Cahill said: “The BAR fund was set up to assist sectors adversely affected by the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union and came into force in October 2021. Ireland’s allocation from the reserve fund is just over €1 billion, with some €300 million made available to the Agriculture, Food and Marine sectors. The Committee welcomes this engagement on the BAR fund with the Department officials and would like to hear details on how the fund operates, the eligibility criteria for access to the fund and a breakdown of how much was allocated to each sector affected over the last three years.

“In our second session, the Committee will resume its discussion on governance with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board. Oversight of the IHRB, including governance matters, is through Horseracing Ireland, which falls under the remit of this Committee. Matters of interest for the Committee include the Mazars Review into financial governance issues uncovered by the IHRB earlier this year and the operation of the IHRB’s equine anti-doping programme. The Committee looks forward to discussing these and related matters with the representatives of the IHRB.”

The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine has 14 Members, nine from the Dáil and five from the Seanad.

The meeting in Committee Room 3 can be viewed live on Oireachtas TV.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.