Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thank you very much. I commend the witnesses on the great work they are doing. They are doing fantastic work but it would be remiss of me, like the two previous speakers, not to take them to task on the couple of lines relating to animal welfare. I appreciate that they are at the coalface and are seeing the absolute worst but right across Ireland, we are very passionate about our horses and 99.9% of horse owners look after them as well as any member of their family.

I agree with the witnesses in relation to funding. It is a huge challenge and €26,000 is a derisory sum. I will take that up with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The amount of money that is given to the ISPCA has been a bone of contention for me for many years. I live not too far away from the national sanctuary in Longford and I see the great work being done there. There is an opportunity for the witnesses here. They have proven themselves and have put in the hard hours on the ground.

Mr. Cullen mentioned that enforcement powers are available and that he is happy with the legislation. The issue is more a case of education for the courts staff, judges and gardaí. I have a couple of questions in that regard. Can the courts stop somebody from owning horses? Is there provision within the legislation to stop people from keeping animals or if they clean up a mess, can they start all over again?

On the 400 horses that the witnesses took in last year and micro-chipping, I appreciate everything they said in that regard. When departmental representatives were before this committee I told them that I knew of one horse owner with 40 horses. He wrote to the Irish Horse Register, which registers sport horses and draught horses, to explain that out of those 40 animals, 20 were still registered to him even though he advised that they were not. That is an issue. Out of the 400 horses that came to the sanctuary, how many were micro-chipped?

There is an opportunity for the witnesses in the education space although I appreciate that their numbers are small, with only five full-time staff. In terms of getting additional funding, the areas of riding for the disabled, mental health and therapy riding could provide opportunities. I admire the work the witnesses are doing with the Traveller community. They are ideally placed to move into that space but I concede there is not an awful lot more they can do with the staff they have and it is very much a funding issue. Perhaps the witnesses could come back to us with a proposal for development. I have seen first-hand the benefits of therapy riding and it is great to see.