Mr. Michael Sheahan:

Regarding the Department's commitment, there is no question we are committed to it. Maybe sometimes we beat ourselves up a bit too much about how bad things are, as the Deputy mentioned, going down the food chain. I am certainly not trying to say things are perfect - far from it. At the same time, it is fair to say things have improved a hell of a lot, certainly in the last ten years. By way of example, members will all be familiar with Ballinasloe Horse Fair, which is the biggest of its kind. It is for the sport horse and leisure horse sector. We first got involved in the Ballinasloe fair 12 or 14 years ago. There is a very good committee there and it is a very well-organised event that attracts considerable international attention. We got involved with the committee and the Garda in relation to checkpoints for horses going to the fair. I cannot remember off the top of my head what year we first got involved but it was probably 2006 or 2007. In the first year, we accompanied gardaí at checkpoints on all the entries into Ballinasloe. At that stage, the number of horses with passports was probably 10% or something of that order. In that first year, when we did the manned checkpoints, we took a very benign approach. We asked people if they knew they were supposed to have a passport for their horse but allowed them to continue on. However, we said we would be back again next year and told people they might be turned away. We went back for a number of years subsequently and within the space of a short number of years, compliance levels at the Ballinasloe fair had gone from 10% to 99%. Even at that fair and places like it, there was a realisation that things had changed and a passport was required. Even from the point of view of selling a horse and whatever, anyone who does not have a passport when selling a horse will be more or less at nothing. I am not trying to whitewash this or say every horse in the country is microchipped and passported. Not all of them are and there are still problem areas.

I will give another measure of how much things have improved. Everybody has noted that animal welfare is hugely important and it is one of the main issues we are here to talk about. If we take the figures on the control of horses and the number of horses seized by local authorities over the years, they show that the numbers have decreased dramatically since the peak in 2013 and 2014. Again, that is not to say the problem is solved - far from it - but-----