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Gormley hits out

Brian Gormley, who served two terms as national chairman of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland and is hot favourite to take…

By GRANIA WILLIS
Sat Jan 08 2000 - 00:00

Brian Gormley, who served two terms as national chairman of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland and is hot favourite to take the chair again this year, has hit out at the threat by the Equestrian Federation of Ireland to suspend the SJAI from its membership of the federation.

"It's unethical and an absolute disgrace for the federation to interfere in the domestic affairs of a private company, whether it's affiliated to them or not," the Longford veterinary surgeon said last night.

"At this moment in time, as far as our auditors are concerned, there are no irregularities. They will be giving us a full financial report at the first meeting of the new executive on January 20th and we are hoping that we will have unqualified accounts. After that we'll be up and running as never before."

But Dessie McFadden, the chairman of the northern region and a former member of the finance committee whose five-page report alleging "serious and continuing irregularities" first sparked this current controversy last month, says that a report and figures lodged with association auditors Chapman Flood Mazars yesterday will highlight the bad business practices that caused him and his two colleagues on the finance committee to resign their posts in protest.

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Despite the original statement from the federation that the SJAI had failed to meet two deadlines for a "considered response" on the situation, the association's outgoing national chairman, Ado Kenny, had dictated a letter to the federation from his sick bed on Thursday, just hours before it was proposed to suspend the SJAI because of its lack of response.

However, EFI president Lewis Lowry said yesterday that the communication from Ado Kenny was not considered to be a "proper response" by the federation executive, who agreed unanimously that proceedings should be initiated to suspend SJAI membership of the federation. "None of the members of the federation want to suspend the SJAI", he said. "There's no pleasure for anyone in this, but the time has come when they'll have to face up to their responsibilities."