asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state the equine diseases which he had in mind when prohibiting the holding in Ireland of the Olympic equestrian events and if he will also indicate the reasons why there is greater danger of infection than for other equestrian events.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Olympic Equestrian Events.
Mr. Walsh
The position is that the Government decided that, should it be proposed to hold the equestrian events of the 1956 Olympic Games in this country, the import of the participating horses would have to be subject to strict compliance with certain specified conditions designed to minimise the risk of introducing serious equine diseases from which Ireland is fortunately free. These diseases include dourine, glanders, mange, African horse sickness, cryptococcus, ulcerative lymphangitis, periodic ophthalmia, leptospirosis, piroplasmosis, virus abortion in mares, borna disease, infectious equine encephalitis, infectious equine anæmia and salmonella abortive equi infection.
As regards the second part of the question, the import from countries other than Britain of horses such as those which would be competing in the equestrian events is normally permitted only where the horses form part of an army equitation team or mixed military-civilian jumping team competing at the Royal Dublin Society's shows. In such instances it is possible to isolate the animals effectively at the show grounds. On the other hand. some of the equestrian events of the Olympic Games would take place over a very considerable area of country and the participating animals could not be effectively isolated. Besides, horses for the equestrian events of the Olympic Games would come from many countries and would be considerable in number whereas the number of horses that come for the Royal Dublin Society's shows is very limited.