Michael Blake raises concerns over Horse Sport Ireland\u2019s panel to choose a new chef d\u2019equipe\n<\/p>\n
Michael Blake\u2019s contract as the chef d\u2019equipe \u2014 or leader of the Irish team \u2014 expired this month and HSI has said a four-person panel will select the new manager, who will take the Irish team to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.<\/p>\n
HSI chief executive Denis Duggan has said he and HSI chief operating officer Avalon Everett will make up half the four-person panel that will select the new appointee.<\/p>\n
HSI has already faced criticism over a perceived lack of expertise amongst those on the selection panel.<\/p>\n
In a letter defending the selection panel to the riders, Mr Duggan criticised Mr Blake\u2019s management of the team, which he subsequently rejected.<\/p>\n
In a new letter, seen by the Sunday Independent, and sent last Thursday, October 16, Mr Blake took issue with Mr Duggan\u2019s criticisms of him.<\/p>\n
\nMy objective is not to seek favour but to ensure a fair process<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The letter was sent to the Sport Minister Patrick O\u2019Donovan, Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon, to Sport Ireland and the HSI.<\/p>\n
Mr Blake\u2019s letter said he intended to apply for the newly tendered position but accused Mr Duggan of bias.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that Mr Duggan has publicly issued false and damaging claims regarding my professional actions and integrity, it is impossible for him to act impartially or credibly in any process assessing my suitability for reappointment as chef d\u2019equipe.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny involvement by him in that process would therefore constitute a serious conflict of interest and a breach of fair-procedure principles under both the Sport Ireland code of governance for sport and HSI\u2019s own conduct policy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He asked that the Sport Minister and the HSI board ensure both executives recused themselves from the panel.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy objective in writing is not to seek favour but to ensure a fair and transparent process for the good of the sport,\u201d Blake wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chef d\u2019equipe position, whoever holds it, must be filled through a process that commands the trust of riders, owners, and the wider equestrian community. If the process proceeds under the present structure, that trust will be irreparably damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n
HSI declined to comment on the letter. A spokesman for the Sport Minister said all national governing bodies of sport are independent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Blake raises concerns over Horse Sport Ireland\u2019s panel to choose a new chef d\u2019equipe Michael Blake\u2019s contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5608,5,4574,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-131836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-main-news","16":"tag-mainnews","17":"tag-mark-tighe","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-patrick-odonovan","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-world","23":"tag-world-news","24":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}