Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 December 2013
203. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of registered horses in the country at present; the number slaughtered at registered premises during the past five years; the estimated number of unregistered horses in the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53602/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is not possible to provide the exact number of registered equines resident in the country at present due to the absence of precise figures for exports and unrecorded deaths in the information provided by the Passport Issuing Organisations to my Department earlier this year, in the context of the establishment of a central data base by the Department.
However, I understand that a study entitled “Economic Contribution of the Sport Horse Industry to the Irish Economy”, commissioned by Horse Sport Ireland and carried out by UCD in 2012, estimated the population of sport horses registered with Passport Issuing Organisations at 124,000. Furthermore, estimates provided by Weatherbys Ireland and Horse Racing Ireland indicate that the number of thoroughbred horses in the breeding sector and in training was 30,000 in 2012. In view of the nature of the issue, it is not possible to provide any reasonable estimate of the number of unregistered horses in the country. The number of horses slaughtered at approved premises in each of the years since 2009 was as follows:
|
YEAR |
TOTAL |
|
2009 |
4,247 |
|
2010 |
9,790 |
|
2011 |
17,560 |
|
2012 |
24,362 |
|
2013 (up to 30/11/13) |
10,027 |
