Louis Weston acted for the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board in opposing the appeal of Ronan McNally

Louis Weston, who leads the OTC Sports Law Group, acted for the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board in opposing the appeal of Ronan McNally against being found in breach and the length of his 12-year suspension, the longest in Irish racing.

Louis Weston, who leads the Sports Law Group, acted for the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board with Caoimhe Daly, BL, in opposing the appeal of Ronan McNally against being found in breach and the length of his 12 year suspension, the longest in Irish racing.  The IHRB’s Appeal Body has dismissed the appeal against breach and suspended the last 4 years of the suspension to give Mr McNally ‘opportunity and motivation to mend his ways’, and awarded the IHRB its costs.  

McNally was found guilty of ten of the 11 charges brought against him, including conspiring with fellow trainer David Dunne to conceal his ownership of Full Noise and All Class, who landed notable runs under Dunne’s name but both were found to be owned by McNally. He was also found to have engaged in fraudulent practice by passing on inside information for betting purposes to the point-to-point handler Ciaran Fennessy.

The Appeal body convened last month to consider McNally’s appeal against the sanctions handed to the restricted trainer in late January by the Referrals Committee. It dismissed McNally’s appeal against the findings of the committee. On an earlier occasion it had dismissed Dunne’s appeal.

Having dismissed the liability appeal, the Appeal Body suspended the final four years of the 12-year sanction. It remains the longest ban handed out to an Irish licence-holder. 

In its decision, the Appeal Body, which was chaired by Justice Peter Kelly, outlined pending changes to the rules covering disqualified individuals that will permit access to public areas at racecourses and allow them to apply to be employed within the industry.

Decision

Click here to read the decision that highlights the need to take all relevant points at first instance and not on appeal, in a sports case.

Read the full article here.

Find out more

Louis Weston leads the Sports Law Team at Outer Temple. Louis is a leading sports law barrister in both Chambers & Partners, Who’s Who Legal, and Legal 500. Louis is an expert in Sports Law.

To find out more on Louis, contact Paul Barton on +44 (0)20 7427 4907 or Ben Fitzgerald +44 (0)203 758 4759 or email OTCSportsClerks@outertemple.com

News 23 Jun, 2023