I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the invitation to come before it and I welcome the opportunity to provide some information to the committee on the Irish draught horse, in particular on the maintenance of the stud book. I will take this opportunity to briefly provide the committee with information on the functions of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with regard to organisations that maintain equine stud books, the history of the Irish draught horse stud book and the role of Horse Sport Ireland with regard to it.
The function of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with regard to stud books is to approve organisations and associations for the purpose of maintaining stud books and to monitor their activities to ensure they comply with the legislation. The Department has been involved in the approval of organisations to maintain stud books since 1992, when the European Commission introduced legislation harmonising the rules in this area. The approval of organisations to maintain stud books in Ireland is governed by the provisions of SI 399 of 2004, European Communities (Equine Stud-Book and Competition) Regulations 2004 as amended, which transposes Commission Decision 92/353/EEC. This decision "lays down the criteria for the approval or recognition of organisations or associations which maintain or establish stud-books for registered equidae".
The criteria for approval of organisations or associations which apply to maintain stud books include that an applicant must have legal personality; operate efficiently; have stud book rules or principles; have a system to check and record pedigree data; have sufficient numbers of equidae to operate a breed improvement programme; define breed characteristics; define breeding objectives; and have stud book rules and principles. These are only some of the criteria, as I do not want to go into too much detail. However, I emphasise that it is not implicit in the legislation that a stud book must be maintained by a specific representative society for a breed. Rather the applicant must satisfy the requirements of the legislation which I mentioned.
Any individual, or group of individuals, can establish an organisation or association to represent a breed. At present, the Irish draught horse has two separate organisations claiming to represent the breed, namely the Irish Draught Horse Society and the Irish Draught Horse Breeders Association. Both organisations were established in recent years following internal divisions in the original Irish Draught Horse Society. It is possible that further organisations could decide to establish themselves as organisations representing the Irish draught horse. However, not all such organisations can or will be approved by the Department to maintain a stud book for the breed.
Approval of a stud book is not limited to one stud book per breed per member state. Applications can be made for a stud book where a stud book for that breed already exists in that member state. However, the Department may refuse to approve an organisation to maintain another stud book if it endangers the preservation of the breed or jeopardises the operation, improvement or selection programme of an existing organisation or if equidae of that breed may be entered or registered in a specific section of a stud book that is already maintained by an approved stud book for that breed.
Approved equine organisations have important responsibilities. Not only do they maintain, record and verify pedigree records for pedigree horses and ponies, they are also responsible for issuing horse passports. Passports are legal documents used to identify horses within the EU, similar to the yellow ear tags used to identify bovines. The identification system for equidae in the EU is built on a single identification document. A passport is issued for the lifetime of the horse when it is born or when it is imported into the EU from a third country.
Since July 2009, the passport is linked to the horse by a microchip. This provides extra safeguards for owners and breeders as to the identity of horses, and it represents a major step forward in safeguarding the food chain. Whereas horse meat is not consumed to any great extent in Ireland, it is commonly consumed in other EU member states and this regulation applies to all member states.
At present, nine organisations are approved by the Department to maintain stud books for equidae. Weatherbys is the organisation approved to maintain the thoroughbred stud book in Ireland. It should be noted that Weatherbys is a private company whereas the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association represents the thoroughbred breeders in Ireland.
Horse Sport Ireland maintains the Irish horse register, which incorporates the Irish sport horse and Irish draught horse stud books. The Connemara Pony Breeders Society maintains the Connemara Pony Breeders Society studbook. The Irish Piebald and Skewbald Association maintains the Irish piebald and skewbald stud book. The Kerry Bog Pony Society maintains the Kerry bog pony stud book. The Irish Pony Society maintains the Irish pony stud book. The Irish Cob Society retains its stud book. The Miniature Horse and Pony Society of Ireland maintains the Irish miniature stud book. The Warmblood Stud Book of Ireland maintains the Irish warmblood stud book.
In regard to the Irish draught horse, aside from approving an organisation to maintain the Irish draught horse studbook, the Department is also involved in the provision of funding in support of the conservation, development and promotion of the Irish draught horse breed. The Department provides supports for conservation of the breed, which is a rare native breed. Funding is provided through several different streams, including the national advisory committee for genetic resources for food and agriculture, the REPS programme and the national development plan.
The national advisory committee for genetic resources for food and agriculture has funded several projects on the Irish draught in the past ten years, for example, research on inbreeding and genetic diversity of the Irish draught population in Ireland, the development of a conservation plan for the Irish draught breed and collection of semen and embryos from rare bloodlines. There is a supplementary measure under the REPS scheme to assist farmers participating in REPS who keep Irish draught horses. An annual payment of €234 is made per livestock unit subject to certain terms and conditions. Funding has also been provided in support of the Irish draught breed from the national development plan. The funding has been used for stallion and mare inspections, stallion performance testing, Irish draught mare competitions, publication of the Irish draught mare book and for the Irish Draught Horse Society to exhibit at the Dublin Horse Show.
I will now to give some background on the Irish draught horse studbook. The Irish draught horse studbook was first established by the Department of Agriculture in 1917, and was maintained by the Department up to the formation of Bord na gCapall in 1970. Bord na gCapall held the stud book from 1970 to 1989. The Department maintained the Irish draught horse stud book from then until 1993 when the Irish Horse Board was approved under EU legislation to do so. The Irish Horse Board was also approved to maintain the Irish sport horse stud book. When the Irish Horse Board became part of Horse Sport Ireland, HSI, in 2008, the Department then approved Horse Sport Ireland to maintain the stud book.
The Irish sport horse stud book and the Irish draught horse studbook have always been maintained by the one organisation at any particular time. This reflects the fact that the studbooks are very closely linked. The Irish draught horse is one of the foundation breeds for producing Irish sport horses and therefore is an essential component in sport horse production. Traditionally, Irish draught horses and mares are bred for producing pure-bred Irish draughts or are crossbred to produce Irish sport horses. Producing foals eligible for registration in either stud book is an important economic factor for the Irish draught stallion and mare owner. For example, Irish draught horse stallions that could only cover Irish draught mares to produce pure-bred Irish draught foals would have a relatively limited market, whereas Irish draught stallions that cover mares in both the Irish sport horse studbook and Irish Draught Horse studbooks have access to a much larger pool of mares, amounting to approximately 10,000 mares. Therefore, it is of commercial benefit to Irish draught breeders to produce and register foals for either the Irish sport horse or the Irish draught horse studbook.
In conservation terms, it is well recognised that one of the best ways of conserving a numerically small breed, such as the Irish draught, is to have a viable commercial outlet. In this case, it is important for the Irish draught horse to not only produce purebred animals, but to have access to the lucrative crossbred market.
As the committee has already been informed at a previous committee meeting, the original Irish Draught Horse Society was established in 1975. Historically, this Irish Draught Horse Society co-operated with the organisation that maintained the studbook at that time by providing input into the breeding policy and the operation of stallion and mare inspections. However, in recent years two Irish draught organisations have been established.
Prior to 2009, the Department had not received an application or request from an Irish draught horse organisation seeking approval to maintain the studbook. In July 2009, the Irish Draught Horse Society Limited submitted an application to the Department seeking approval to maintain a studbook for the Irish draught breed. The Department has been in correspondence with the society since then and is currently considering a number of submissions from the society in relation to that application.
As I outlined previously, when the Irish Horse Board became part of Horse Sport Ireland in 2008, the Department approved Horse Sport Ireland to maintain the Irish horse register. As I alluded to earlier, the Irish horse register contains the Irish sport horse studbook and the Irish draught horse studbook.
Horse Sport Ireland is an all-Ireland body and is a limited company run by a board of directors made up of 19 members nominated by the various affiliated bodies. One of the objectives in establishing Horse Sport Ireland was to bring together the breeding, sport and leisure sides of the industry. In relation to breeding, five members of the board of Horse Sport Ireland are nominated from the breeding sub-board; the breeding sub-board is the board of the Irish Horse Board. The board of the Irish Horse Board comprises 13 members, three of whom are nominated by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the remaining ten are voted in by the members of the Irish Horse Board in each of the five electoral regions for a period of four years.
The breeding sub-board, that is, the Irish Horse Board, formulates the breeding policy for the Irish sport horse and Irish draught horse studbooks. Any paid up member of the Irish Horse Board is entitled to put himself forward for election in his region. Therefore, breeders of Irish sport horses and/or Irish draught horses have the opportunity, through democratic elections, to have an input into the breeding policy for their breed.
Horse Sport Ireland operates the Irish draught horse studbook in accordance with national and EU legislation. Contrary to any previous information the committee may have been given, the European Commission has not expressed concerns to the Department over compliance of the Irish draught horse studbook with the relevant legislation.
There have been some difficulties in the past with some individual animals being incorrectly classified in the Irish sport horse or Irish draught horse studbooks. These difficulties have been examined in detail in the past by the Irish Horse Board and more recently by Horse Sport Ireland and the Department. Horse Sport Ireland has given a clear commitment to examine such individual registrations and to correct them as appropriate.
In regard to breeding policy, Horse Sport Ireland, and its predecessor, the Irish Horse Board, have been proactive in developing schemes and policies that have resulted in significant increases in Irish draught population numbers over the past ten years. In the past ten years, population numbers of pure-bred Irish draught Horses have increased dramatically. In 2000, there were 377 Irish draught foals registered. In 2009, there were 1,193 foals registered, a threefold increase in registrations in nine years.
Since 2001 the Irish Horse Board and, more recently, Horse Sport Ireland have participated in and funded several research projects, including a number of Masters theses, which have examined the issues of in-breeding and genetic diversity in the Irish draught population. Arising from the research, schemes were developed to deal with in-breeding and genetic diversity. The research was carried out in co-operation with the Irish Draught Horse Society, University College Dublin, the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, the Royal Dublin Society and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Horse Sport Ireland has published a strategic plan for 2009-12. This strategic plan specifically refers to developing a sustainable breeding policy in association with Irish draught breeders. Work on this plan is already well under way. In June 2009, HSI established an Irish draught horse breeding policy task force. The aim of the task force is to examine the breeding policy for the Irish draught horse and to preserve and improve the breed.
The task force has five members, specifically chosen by HSI for their expertise in Irish draught breeding and not for their affiliation to any Irish horse or draught group. Horse Sport Ireland invited submissions from interested parties and I understand that a total of 12 were returned. In November 2009, HSI published a draft policy and the task force then invited further submissions on the draft task force report, on which 39 submissions were received. I understand that the Irish Draught Horse Society did not make any submission on either occasion. The Irish Draught Horse Breeders Association made a submission on both occasions. Horse Sport Ireland is currently considering these submissions and intends publishing the final breeding policy in 2010.
In summary, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is the competent authority for approving organisations to maintain stud books in Ireland. The Department has approved Horse Sport Ireland to maintain the Irish draught horse stud book and is satisfied that the stud book is being maintained in accordance with the relevant legislation.