Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 January 2021
1111. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider putting a strategic plan in place to protect the health of Connemara ponies into the future in view of the seriously concerning statistics on hoof wall separation disease. [44956/20]
View answerThe Connemara Pony Breeders Society (CPBS) has been approved by my Department to maintain the Studbook for Connemara Ponies and, in this regard, operates a breeding programme for the breed.
My Department has allocated funding to the Connemara Pony Breeders Society under the Equine Infrastructures Scheme since 2015, to facilitate research into this genetic defect. The research work carried out in conjunction with Weatherby's, in this regard has enabled the Society to test for the presence of the HWSD gene. This has allowed the Society put together a strategy to bring about a decrease in the incidence of this genetic defect towards its eventual elimination.
