I am grateful to the Chairman and members for the opportunity to address the committee.
With the Chairman's agreement, I propose to first describe the nature of my Department's role in horse welfare and where that fits with the roles and responsibilities of others. Second, I would like to address some specific issues that were discussed by the committee in March concerning horse identification. In this regard I will also refer to other related matters, the registration of premises and transfer of ownership. Finally, I would like to briefly respond to the issues surrounding withdrawal periods for certain veterinary medicines.
I want to start by saying a few words on the recent reporting of some horse welfare issues. It is important to acknowledge the great tradition of horse care among Irish people and the continuing high standards maintained by the majority of Irish horseowners. In the context of the number of horses in the country it is clear that only a small percentage of horses give rise to potential welfare concerns. From our ongoing meetings with representatives of the horse industry, welfare organisations and from meetings of the farm animal welfare advisory council, it is clear that there is an increase in the number of reported horse welfare problems throughout the country, including an increasing risk of the abandonment of horses. That does not mean there has been an increase in actual cases of animals at risk though it is fair to conclude that we all need to be more vigilant in protecting such animals. The small number of cases of cruelty and neglect that are coming to public notice is regrettable and unacceptable for a country with such a proud reputation concerning horses. We should acknowledge the continuing high standards being maintained by the majority of Irish horseowners and the great achievements of Irish horses in sporting events.
In dealing with horse welfare matters, the Department must adhere to the legal powers under which it is authorised. In so far as horses are concerned, the Department's legislative responsibility extends to farmed animals only. This legislation is enforced under the European Communities (Welfare of Farmed Animals) Regulations 2010. These regulations were recently updated. The legislation does not extend to animals used in competitions, shows, cultural or sporting events. When the Minister was transposing a number of European Council directives in 2008 dealing with farmed animals, the Department availed of the opportunity to tighten up the farmed animals regulations to ensure that there would be no ambiguity for Department inspectors when dealing with equines. Therefore, current legislation in this area applies to animals if normally bred or kept for the production of food, for the purpose of farming the land or for animal husbandry, and this includes horses in particular. Department officers must ensure that if they are intervening in a horse welfare or cruelty situation on the basis of the farmed animal regulations, they must be satisfied that the horse is being kept for farming purposes.
The main legislation in the State governing cruelty to horses is the Protection of Animals Act 1911 and the Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act 1965, which states that any person causing cruelty or unnecessary suffering to any animal shall be guilty of an offence of cruelty within the meaning of those Acts. The Control of Horses Act 1996 also provides an important basis for dealing with horse welfare issues. Local authorities have a critical role to play in this area and have extensive powers. The Act was introduced to address problems that were being caused by wandering horses, mainly in urban areas, and assigns to the local authorities the primary role for dealing with such horses. It provides for the seizure, detention and disposal of stray, unlicensed or unidentifiable horses and provides powers of enforcement for local authorities and the Garda Síochána, who may also compel owners to seek veterinary attention where animals are in pain, distress or in an acute state of neglect.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food provides around €2 million per annum to local authorities in respect of reimbursement of expenses under the Control of Horses Act 1996. In addition, some local authorities have received funding from the Department for horse projects to assist towards the provision of adequate facilities for housing horses, either because they are seized, or in order to prevent the keeping of horses in open or otherwise unsuitable areas.
It is clear from discussions that the problems faced on the welfare front vary greatly between local authorities. There is a particular variance between those problems faced in urban areas and the problems faced in more rural counties. At a recent meeting held with representatives of the county managers association, it was agreed to develop a protocol to improve implementation of the Control of Horses Act 1996 throughout the local authority areas. The protocol will look at those local authority areas where the Act has been working particularly well, with a view to incorporating some of the best practices in other areas.
Our veterinary staff throughout the country maintain a high level of co-operation with multiple agencies, including relevant local authority veterinary staff, the Garda, the ISPCA, private veterinary practitioners and other agencies. Reports of compromised equine welfare are routinely referred where appropriate, if the jurisdiction of responsibility lies elsewhere.
Mindful of the valuable work being carried out by welfare organisations across the animal welfare spectrum, and as a contribution towards the cost of their activities, the Department provided funding of €1.185 million to assist these organisations in their work in 2010. The Department has advised those welfare bodies with capacity to deal with larger animals to consider placing greater resources on promoting the welfare of horses in their areas.
Co-operation is also ongoing through the auspices of the Farm Animal Welfare Advisory Council, FAWAC, and its early warning system. The objective of this system is to provide a framework within which farm animal welfare problems can be identified before they become critical or overwhelming, which in turn facilitates timely, effective and sensitive intervention or the provision of assistance by public agencies, neighbours, farming bodies and welfare groups. FAWAC has also been very active in the area of horse welfare through the ongoing work of the equine welfare liaison group. This group is comprised of representatives of the horse industry, including Veterinary Ireland, the UCD equine welfare group, welfare bodies, Horse Racing Ireland, Horse Sport Ireland and representatives of the Department. Following discussions at the most recent meeting of the council, a meeting was convened of the equine welfare liaison group in order to identify a single clear message to be given to all those involved with horses. FAWAC's advice is clear. In circumstances where a horse presents with severe welfare problems, the owner cannot be identified and the horse can no longer fulfil the purpose for which it was bred, then the horse should be humanely disposed of. Such action will help prevent the emergence of long-term and severe animal welfare problems.
There was considerable discussion at the March meeting of the committee on the issue of horse registration. It is a legal requirement under Commission Regulation No. 504/2008 that all horses must have an identification microchip inserted and a valid passport issued from an approved studbook or horse passport agency, with the details relating to the animal recorded on a database maintained by the passport issuing agency. The Department has engaged in consultation with industry representatives over the past few months concerning implementation of the registration process. In light of these consultations, the Minister has decided that the registration process will in future be completed by 31 December of the year of birth of the animal, or six months after its birth, whichever date occurs later. This means that some animals could be registered up to 12 months of age. The Minister will bring forward legislation to support the implementation of the relevant EU regulation shortly.
In addition, the Minister is about to embark on a consultation process with the industry on two other related matters. The first concerns a basic requirement in addressing any exotic animal health concern, which is to have an official register of premises on which animals are kept. Such registers are already in place in respect of all other farm animal species in Ireland, but no such register currently exists for horses. The second matter relates to the development of a system to notify and record the movement and transfer of ownership from one person responsible for the health and welfare of an equine animal to another, where the animal is transferred on a permanent basis. The current system is limited to maintaining records at the time the passport is first issued, which means that any investigation of an animal health or welfare nature relating to an equine animal may necessitate manual forward tracing from the time of first registration. This is a particular concern when ensuring and protecting the health and welfare of horses, given their relative longevity and potential for multiple transfer of ownership.
These proposals are designed to offer better protection to the animals and to the industry, ensuring robust systems are in place to address any animal health and welfare concerns and will be central to the continued success and international reputation of the Irish equine industry.
A final issue discussed at the March sitting of the committee was in respect of the administration to animals of certain veterinary medicines and the consequences that arise in some cases of such animals being excluded from the food chain. Though not generally consumed in Ireland, equidae are food producing animals which are identified by means of an identification document, namely, a passport. The passport also allows records to be kept of the administration of certain veterinary medicinal products. The passport permits the exclusion of individual equidae from the food chain in order to ensure that equidae destined for human consumption only receive medicinal treatments in accordance with community legislation on food safety. This exclusion is endorsed on the passport by the veterinary practitioner administering the medicine. It was suggested at the March meeting that a withdrawal period of six months should be sufficient in all cases.
The Department has played a significant role at EU level in securing special arrangements for horses, which have substantially alleviated problems of availability. These include recognition of the concept of food and non-food horses. The significance of this was to free an entire category of horse, the non-food horse, from restrictions relating to the protection of public health. We were successful, too, in securing an additional measure for food horses, apart from the normal range of authorised products under which access is available to a range so-called essential substances with a post-treatment withdrawal period of six months. One of the criteria for entry to this essential list is the absence of alternative arrangements. Unfortunately, phenylbutazone, which was mentioned at the last session of the committee, was not accepted by the European Commission as being eligible because of the availability of authorised alternatives. Committee members will agree that it is essential that we bear in mind that public health is the primary concern in our administration of regulations. We must also comply with EU regulations. In cases where there are no passports or where passports have been lost, we must be absolutely certain that no threat to public health exists.