Síle de Valera
Question:64 Miss de Valera asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline the measures he is proposing to develop the non-thoroughbred horse industry.
Written Answers. - Horse Industry
Government policy in relation to the development of the non-throughbred horse industry has been outlined in the national programme for the development of the non-thoroughbred industry, the main features of which are: the incentive grant scheme for Irish draughts increased headage payments; grants for pony trekking and horse riding under the rural tourism scheme; the administration of the Irish Horse Register and approval of stallions; the establishment of marketing centres with National and EC aid; and the establishment of a Horse Breeding Advisory Committee.
Many of the features outlined in the national programme are well under way and the Horse Breeding Advisory Committee have made several recommendations to me. In line with some of these recommendations a sum of £75,000 was provided in this year's budget towards the cost of establishing a representative body for breeders in the non-thoroughbred horse industry.
Further measures which I recently announced to develop the industry are also generally in line with the recommendations of the Horse Breeding Advisory Committee. These measures which are provided for in the operational programme for rural development include: a grant of £150 for foals, from approved sires and dams registered in the Irish Horse Register or Connemara Stud Book, subject to a maximum of five foals per annum per applicant; a grant of £500 in disadvantaged areas and £400 elsewhere on the first foal registered from each Connemara young brood mare; the introduction of a pilot blood typing scheme; payment of a premium to selected stallion owners to encourage them to acquire better quality stallions; a grant of £700 for each of two years to the owner of each stallion participating in a performance testing programme; and the provision of a sum of up to £100,000 over the next three year period to develop computer systems and to set up programmes to facilitate the production of stallion genetic indices.
The foal grant schemes will be in place for this year's breeding season. The other schemes are currently under consideration and details will be announced as soon as possible.