Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A number of members have indicated they want to speak. They will have ten minutes each. If members want a second round of questions, we can facilitate it. We will give everyone a chance to get in with the first batch. I have three quick questions first.

Will Ms Eade give a timeframe for completion of the all-weather race track in Tipperary? When will it be in place? When will racing take place there? Ms Eade mentioned insurance, in passing, for point-to-point and pony racing. Does HRI have any insight in to how we can get the cost of that insurance to what will be a reasonable level? Both are considerable nurseries for horse racing. Point to pointing has become a big business and is the conveyer belt for our success in national hunt racing. It would be a disaster if lack of insurance were to put that in jeopardy. The same goes for pony racing. While it is not producing the horses for HRI, it is definitely producing a conveyer of jockeys. Most of our champions have come out of the pony circuit.

In terms of a database for horses, all thoroughbreds are microchipped. We know where they are. We have had meetings on doping, on rigorous testing of doping in the industry and on making sure that the industry has a clean reputation. Without a database in place for us know exactly which premises each horse is meant to be on, it is extremely hard to give full confidence to the public in the testing regime, especially out-of-training testing. It is imperative that if inspectors are going into a yard to test, they know exactly how many horses are on that premises.

In these days of computerisation, it should not be too difficult to have a movement system in place to simultaneously record the movement of horses from A to B. If one is going in to a yard, one should know the number of horses there. If one has a bovine inspection and has 50, 200 or 300 animals, one has to have that number of animals in place when the inspectors come on to the premises. They will be counted and checked. We need to do the same on the equine side. I know there are issues with non-thoroughbreds with regard to microchipping, but we are talking about thoroughbred horses this evening. We need to get that house in order as quickly as possible.