Mr. Anthony Collins:

That process came into effect on 1 July 2009, when Regulation 504/2008 came into effect. At that time, we were entitled to a run-in period, whereby the passport agency, which is Horse Sport Ireland, moved to remove 52,000 horses out of the food chain for late registration. It was not for any medicinal reason; it was just for late registration. The owners of those horses were never told that as a result of the regulation coming in on 1 July 2009 the horses would be sanctioned out of the food chain. We were told that it would be illegal for the owner, but not that the animal would be sanctioned. It was the owner who was to be sanctioned. Because they were unidentified at the time those horses were supposed to be given a run-in period of six months, which we never got. The Government did not give us this. We did seek it. Because that run-in period was not delivered, over the following 12 months some 52,000 horses were put out of the food chain for no other reason. A horse that is out of the food chain runs up a bill of up to €3,000 for the taxpayer. This happens because if the horse is in the food chain and is fully processed and on the EU market, be it the French market or wherever, that horse is delivering more than €2,050 for the Exchequer and the Irish economy. That is lost if the horse does not make it to the food chain. At the end of its life, before getting to the knackery, the horse may even travel through an animal welfare station. The horse will end up in the knackery to be processed. From the time the horse is delivered, through to the processing in the rendering plant, there is a cost of up to €800 from start to finish, at the very minimum. If you dig into those figures, it will not remain at €3,000. It will go much above that, but we are taking the lowest figure. It is €3,000 for each horse. That can be multiplied by the number of horses that are out of the food chain for no medicinal reason. How can the taxpayer lift that? It is too much weight. It must be questioned and we must get more clarification on it.