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

Obviously, this is a peak time for producers of foals. Based on the information I have been able to glean, approximately 70% of foals sold through the sales houses in the last number of months did not have passports. Of the 140 foals sold in Cavan, it is estimated that 40% of them had passports, which was reasonable given the next figure. In Goresbridge, 565 foals were presented and just 65 of those had passports. All the sales houses are, correctly, withholding the moneys that have been paid for those foals until a passport can be provided. Obviously, the producers of the foals have to bring them back home, and maintain them in anticipation of their money coming through. All the while they are being frustrated by the delays of a State body, HSI, in this case. Is that not a damning indictment of the body's handling of the passport process and of the way producers are being treated?