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

That is great. I thank our guests from the IHRB for being so forthright.

I have a question for the Department. Passports come up every time we bring officials from the Department before us in the context of animal welfare. Deputy Martin Browne touched on the issue. Lower down the food chain in the horse industry, when we move into sports horse territory where horses may not necessarily be as valuable, and especially in the area of leisure horses, there is significant concern about the policing and monitoring of passports. I am not sure which of the officials were at a previous hearing at which I referred to one owner who contacted me having checked the register and found that 24 horses were registered to him. Although he only had six horses at the time, the register indicated he owned 24 horses. When he checked, several of the horses were dead and a number had been exported but no effort had been made to update the register.

I appreciate Mr. Sheahan's point on the length of time it is taking to get us to where we are with cattle. At the same time, I can go into SuperValu in Longford and see what farm my striploin has come from. It is not many years since we had the horsemeat scandal in the UK. It is an issue for the integrity of the food chain. In the context of the Department's commitment and priorities, how close are we to seeing a realistic effort to resolving the horse passport issue? Will there be a statutory responsibility, not dissimilar to what we have for cattle, on horse owners to ensure they update the register? They are certainly not doing that at the moment, especially in the leisure and sport horse sector.