Chairman's Statement
Horse Sport Ireland was set up at the end of 2006 bringing together the breeding, sport and leisure sides of the industry. Since then much progress has been made. The organisation now has a management team in place and will shortly move into new offices in Millennium Park, Naas, Co. Kildare.
One of the main objectives of Horse Sport Ireland as outlined in the "Dowling Report" is the provision of services to affiliates.
This booklet outlines some of the services that Horse Sport Ireland intends to make available to the organisations affiliated to it.
It is entirely a matter for each affiliate to decide which of the services their organisation requires and I would ask all affiliates to read the booklet carefully and to consider if their organisation could benefit from the services outlined.
Joe Walsh
Message from the Chief Executive
One of the primary purposes of Horse Sport Ireland is to assist and support our affiliated organisations.
It is clear that many of our affiliates do outstanding work to promote and develop equestrianism and the sport horse sector in general.
It has become very clear to me since I took up the position of Chief Executive that most of the work being carried out is done on a voluntary basis. By offering services to affiliates, Horse Sport Ireland aims to reduce the administrative burden that falls on volunteer leaders within the affiliates.
Provision of a particular service will be dependant on the level of interest in the service and resource availability. It is hoped that most services can be provided free of charge but it will be necessary to charge for some aspects. In order to ensure effective service provision we intend to appoint one contact person in Horse Sport Ireland to act as Affiliate Administrator.
We would be happy to meet any affiliate to discuss these services in more detail.
Damian Mc Donald
Administration
PHONE ANSWERING
Horse Sport Ireland intends to offer organisations the opportunity to give Horse Sport Ireland as their phone number. This will be attended during office hours from 9am to 5pm. The phone will be answered as Horse Sport Ireland and callers can then ask for a particular affiliate e.g. Vaulting Ireland. They will then be put through to a dedicated "Affiliate Administrator" who will be responsible for "affiliate services" in HSI. This staff member will be trained to deal with queries. If they cannot deal with the query they will e-mail or phone the relevant contact affiliate to pass on a message or ask them to return the call and deal with the issue.
ADDRESS FOR INCOMING POSTAL MAIL
In the same way organisations can use Horse Sport Ireland as their address. All correspondence would be received by HSI's Affiliate Administrator who would deal with the correspondence or pass it on to a key contact in the affiliate.
ADMINISTRATION TASKS
Organisations could avail of the "Affiliate Administrator" to carry out certain defined administration tasks such as sending out circulars etc.
REGISTRATION
Affiliates could ask HSI to administer their registration function. HSI's Affiliate Administrator would then receive the registration fees, lodge them in the affiliate's bank accounts and update the relevant database.
Finance and employment services
ACCOUNTANCY/BOOKEEPING SERVICES
Horse Sport Ireland will record all the financial transactions of the affiliate.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
As a step further the Finance Department of Horse Sport Ireland could operate the Finance function for the affiliate. HSI's finance department would receive and lodge all payments to the affiliate's bank account and organise cheque runs for signing by the designated signatories on behalf of the affiliates. They would produce regular financial reports for the affiliate and provide accounts up to "ready for audit" stage and liaise with the auditor in relation to same.
PAYROLL
Affiliates could seek payroll services from Horse Sport Ireland. The affiliate's employees would remain as an employee of the affiliate but all payroll matters such as PRSI, tax deduction, pension deductions etc would be processed by HSI.
EMPLOYEE BASED IN HORSE SPORT IRELAND
In this case the person would become a HSI employee based in HSI Head Office. HSI would deal with all employment issues and would provide office space and all the other equipment required to do the job. A direct dial in facility may also be provided. This would have the advantage that some cover could be provided when the relevant staff member is on annual leave, away from the office or on sick leave. They would also have ready access to IT support, the staff kitchen and other facilities. The cost of the salary would be met by the affiliate, some contribution may also be required towards rent and certain overheads.
Facilities available
MEETING ROOM RENTAL
Horse Sport Ireland will have a meeting room/board room available for meetings. Affiliates can request the use of this for meetings.
OFFICE SPACE RENTAL
The affiliate would essentially rent space in Horse Sport Ireland's National Office. The employees would remain as employees of the affiliates but would be based in HSI. In this case some rental charges would have to be levied against the affiliate for the space, utilities and other costs.
Marketing and Communications
PRESS AND PROMOTION
It is intended that HSI will have a marketing and communications department. The services of this department would be available to all affiliates and could carry out work on behalf of the affiliate or a particular event.
NEWSLETTER
Horse Sport Ireland intends to publish a regular printed newsletter/magazine that can be circulated to all members of the affiliates, key influencers and other relevant parties. Affiliates would submit material for the newsletter and would provide their database of members for it to be circulated to. A process of ensuring that the magazine only went to each person once even if they are members of more than one organisation would be in place. It is also envisaged that a weekly/fortnightly e-newsletter will also be distributed.
WEBSITE
The affiliate's website becomes a sub-section of Horse Sport Ireland's site. Horse Sport Ireland intends to build a website with a content management system. Affiliates can simply email their information to HSI and we will upload it on their section of the site. Some provision for affiliate staff or volunteers to upload results directly can also be considered and if required training can be provided. The "side bar" on the website would have a section for each affiliate. The "scrolling news" section of the HSI site would feature the most recent news from each affiliate. The affiliate can then give the HSI website address as their web address. eg www.horsesportireland.ie/vaulting
The affiliate becomes a formal section of HSI
In this case the Affiliate would become a section in HSI. e.g. - Horse Sport Ireland - Vaulting.
All staff would be based in HSI and all income generated would accrue to HSI. HSI would deal with all matters such as finance, staff, IT, communications, press etc. The affiliate's Governing Committee/Board would become a sub committee within HSI and would continue to make the decisions for its sport subject to ratification by the HSI Board.