asked the Minister for Defence if he will make a statement on the importance he attaches to the Army jumping team for the promotion of the sale of Irish horses.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Army Jumping Team.
22.
The whole purpose of the Army Equitation School is to advertise the Irish horse. In this connection I regard the school as being extremely important.
The Minister during the course of the debate said that the Irish horse must be advertised and the only organisation to do the job is the Army jumping team. Does the Minister really believe that? Surely he is not serious?
The Deputy has as usual taken a sentence out of context. I said among other things—I do not have the debate with me—that there were other advertisers, such as a very good racehorse winning an expensive race. If one is to advertise the Irish horse of the middle income group Irish farmer who keeps the brood mare and breeds a three-quarter bred horse, the only agency at this point in time is the Army Equitation School. Maybe in years to come when Bord na gCapall expands, there may be an opportunity for other agencies to do this job or, in co-operation with the Army Equitation School, do it a little better. At present the only agency which advertises the type of horse which is the backbone of horse breeding here is the Army Equitation School. Why Fianna Fáil consistently starved it of funds and want to attack it I do not know.
Is the Minister aware that Bord na gCapall are charged by statute with the obligation of promoting and advertising Irish horses at home and abroad? Is he also aware that Bord na gCapall embark on promotion projects abroad and are engaged in a very comprehensive programme of advertising Irish horses at home and abroad? How can he possibly reconcile those activities with his statement that the Army Equitation School is the only agency engaged in this work?
Again, I have been misrepresented. I said that at this point in time the only agency to promote this particular type of horse was the Army Equitation School.
That is wrong.
That is the truth. I am aware that under legislation Bord na gCapall are charged with the work of promoting the Irish horse. I am also aware that Bord na gCapall have not as yet built an equitation school. I agree that their work is promotional, but there is no promotion work as good as an Irish Army rider, in an Irish Army uniform, on an Irish horse, winning abroad. When the Deputy opposite was Minister for Finance the Army Equitation School was starved of money, much to his disgrace.
I do not think the Minister can be serious. Bord na gCapall as a statutory body are fully engaged at this moment in the promotion of exhibitions and shows abroad at important international centres and are engaged in promoting sales of Irish horses here, of paying the expenses of foreign buyers to come here to buy horses. How can he adopt the ridiculous attitude that they are not doing any good?
I am not decrying——
This is another serious attempt by the Minister to mislead this House.
I am not decrying the work of Bord na gCapall. I am not saying that in years to come they will not be an important body. The physical situation is that the institution in McKee Barracks has 47 horses at the moment, which are the property of the Department of Defence, and the Equitation School have the best first class riders in the country. That agency is the only one at present which can sell the three-quarter bred horse in the markets abroad.
Nonsense.
The work of our riders in Irish Army uniforms, on Irish horses, winning abroad is the best advertisement we can get.
(Interruptions.)
The Deputy knows that a building cannot be put up overnight and that men cannot be trained to ride horses at international competitions in a day. He knows that the best advertisement for the Irish horse in the years to come, until Bord na gCapall is developed, is the Army Equitation School. That school was starved of money when the Deputy was Minister for Finance.
Is the Minister denying that at the moment Bord na gCapall promote exhibitions——
There is no question concerning Bord na gCapall before me.
The Minister brought Bord na gCapall into it.
I am not so denying but I would like to draw the Deputy's attention to this. In the present year the Army horses have already——
That is not the point.
We are not talking about that.
In the present year Army riders and horses have already participated in shows at Geneva, Rome, Dublin, Hickstead and Wembley and had the following successes: Geneva—one 3rd, Captain Kiely on Inis Cara; Rome—one 3rd, Commandant Campion on Garraí Eoin and one 4th, Captain Kiely on Lough Sheelin; Dublin—Commandant Campion on Garraí Eoin was a member of the team which came second in the Nations Cup. He also came 4th in another competition; Hickstead—one 1st, Captain Kiely on Lough Sheelin. Commandant Campion on Garraí Eoin and Captain Kiely on Lough Sheelin were members of the team which came third in the Nations Cup; Wembly—one 4th, Commandant Campion on Ashbourne.
Question No. 23.
Further arising from the Minister's reply——
We have stayed on this question long enough.
Is the Minister implying that Commandant Campion and the other officers are salesmen when they go abroad, that they are selling horses——
The Deputy should not indulge in personalities in this House.
Will the Minister have the members of the Army Ordnance Corps selling washing machines and members of the artillery selling other equipment?
If the Deputy wants to insult Commandant Campion and Captain Kiely, I will not insult them.
(Interruptions.)