asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state how many sires have been purchased by the Irish National Stud Company, Limited; the basis upon which nominations to such sires have been allotted; whether any person has been allotted more than one nomination to any such sire; and if so, the name of each such person.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Purchase of Sires.
I am not responsible for the day to day decisions of the stud company and I could not undertake to give detailed answers in the ordinary way to questions of this kind regarding the transactions of the company. I happen, however, to be in possession of the information the Deputy has asked for. It is as follows:—
(a) One sire has been bought by the company so far;
(b) For the 1947 season the directors decided to allocate a total of 24 nominations to this sire. These have been allotted on the basis of three for the company's own mares, one for a mare the property of the vendor of the sire, in accordance with the conditions of purchase of this animal, and 20 for mares belonging to outside applicants. these 20 mares were selected by the board of directors as being in their opinion the most suitable for mating with the sire;
(c) No applicant was granted more than one nomination.