Dr. Andrew Kelly:

I thank the Chairman for the invitation to appear before the joint committee.

The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, ISPCA, is recognised as Ireland's national animal welfare organisation. It has been providing front-line animal welfare services for more than 65 years. It is the umbrella organisation for 20 local animal welfare organisations across Ireland. I am also representing these bodies today.

The ISPCA is concerned about the welfare of all animals in all circumstances. We recognise that animals will be used for a wide range of purposes in society and strive to ensure the welfare of these animals is protected. The society operates two rescue centres, the National Animal Centre in Keenagh, County Longford and an equine rescue centre in Mallow, County Cork. Both facilities deal with animals that are most in need, primarily those that have been seized or surrendered to our inspectors, abandoned, neglected or cruelly treated. The National Animal Centre deals with horses, donkeys, dogs, cats and other species, while the equine centre in County Cork deals mostly with equines, although it also has holding facilities for a small number of dogs. The centre has capacity for approximately 20 equines, while the equine centre in County Cork has capacity for around 50 equines. As such, the ISPCA can only deal with a small number of equines at any given time. Our role is to rescue, rehabilitate and re-home, where possible, but we also take difficult decisions to euthanise animals that cannot be re-homed responsibly.

The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is funded mainly by public donations, although we also receive an ex gratiagrant from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We do not receive any funding from the equine industry.

The ISPCA operates a national cruelty helpline which accepts calls from members of the public reporting incidences of animal cruelty, abandonment or neglect. Such occurrences can also be reported via the ISPCA website. In 2014 the helpline received more than 21,000 calls, of which approximately 10% related to equines.

As some members will be aware, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has a team of only six uniformed animal welfare inspectors, who cover only 14 counties. We are in the process of recruiting two more inspectors, one for Limerick and a second for Waterford and south Tipperary, which will increase our team to eight inspectors covering 17 counties. Our ambition is to cover all 26 counties in due course.

In May 2014, following the introduction of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, the ISPCA entered into a service agreement with the Minister which resulted in ISPCA inspectors becoming authorised officers under the Act. This gives ISPCA inspectors certain statutory powers, including the power to enter land and seize animals under some circumstances and issue animal welfare and improvement notices, the latter being a highly useful tool for inspectors. There are exceptions to our authorisation and it is important to list these. ISPCA inspectors do not exercise a function in respect of farms that rear animals for commercial food consumption or any horse on such a farm; horse racing events; stud farms; premises of horse trainers; or greyhound racing establishments. Other authorised officers deal with these areas. Since becoming authorised officers in May 2014, ISPCA inspectors have initiated more than 45 prosecutions under the Animal Health and Welfare Act, three of which have been finalised in court with positive outcomes. We may have wished for higher penalties but that is another issue. Our inspectors, who are on the front line, have an impact. This year, we published our first inspectorate report detailing the cases initiated by us and finalised in court in 2014. We will publish an annual report on the cases finalised in court in future years.

The ISPCA has dealt with significant equine welfare issues over the years. Between 2008 and 2014, the ISPCA national cruelty helpline received 10,374 complaints regarding equine welfare, giving an average of 1,729 per annum. The written submission features a graph showing a sharp increase in the number of calls between 2008 and 2010. While this appears to have reached a plateau, we continue to receive a large number of calls.

Over the same period - 2008 to 2014 - ISPCA inspectors seized or had surrendered to them 401 equines, ranging from donkeys to ponies and thoroughbreds, and covering both rural and urban areas. The numbers seized or surrendered increased from 13 in 2008 to 103 in 2014, a significant increase. By the end of May 2015, the ISPCA had already seized 51 equines. While the number of calls received has declined slightly, the calls appear to be more serious, as are their welfare implications, and we are seizing more animals. As such, the trend is continuing.

Many of the equines we deal with had been abandoned and the owners could not be traced either because they were not microchipped or because the last known owner, when traced, claimed the animal had been sold on. Less than 10% of the equines seized by the ISPCA are thoroughbred or ex-racehorses. The horses we see are suffering from a range of problems, including starvation, hoof problems and injuries.

The ISPCA welcomes and supports the raft of legislation now available, including the Animal Health and Welfare Act, the Control of Horses Act and legislation on the registration of equine premises, microchipping, passporting and transfer of ownership regulations. However, we are concerned that a lack of enforcement by the Department has resulted in widespread non-compliance.

The ISPCA has long called for transfer of ownership regulations, which placed a responsibility on both the vendor and the buyer of an equine, to update the passport details held by the passport issuing office. We were pleased last July when the passport regulations were upgraded. SI 189 of 2014 placed responsibility on both the vendor and owner to update the record in the passport.

However, this statutory instrument was replaced in December 2014 by SI No. 601 which came into force on 1 January 2015 and returned responsibility to the buyer only. Although the vendor has to retain records, he or she does not have to pass them on to the passport issuing office. This was a large step backwards in the ISPCA’s opinion. Now, when we find a horse that has been microchipped, the last known owners simply say they sold on the animal and that it is no longer their responsibility. That is a big problem for us. We queried this with the Department which informed us that the statutory instrument had been replaced following consultation with stakeholders. We were certainly not consulted on this very important change and, as far as I am aware, neither was any other animal welfare organisation. For equine legislation to have the desired impact, it must be effectively enforced and all equines must be fully traceable throughout their lifetime. From our perspective, traceability equals responsibility. If horses can be traced back to their owners, owners will take responsibility for them. Unfortunately, it is our experience that the level of enforcement varies both between and within counties. There seems to be a lack of consistency between some departmental and local authority veterinary inspectors. It has already been mentioned that local authorities have the power to appoint authorised officers under the Animal Health and Welfare Act. My understanding is that very few have done so, which is not particularly helpful.

I would like to mention three case studies of ex-racehorses, as we are talking about that industry. The first horse was abandoned in County Westmeath in 2013. We were able to trace the last known owner who claimed that the horse had been sold on but could not supply details of the buyer. We subsequently re-homed the horse and there are pictures of it in the document we have submitted to the committee. The second ex-racehorse was abandoned in County Donegal in 2013. We traced the owner who said the horse had been sold on. We subsequently re-homed the horse. The third ex-racehorse was seized in County Carlow in April 2015. Sadly, we had to euthanise this horse to prevent further suffering. In that instance we were able to trace the current owner and I believe a case is being prepared. The ISPCA deals with over 1,700 equine-related calls each year and seized 401 horses between 2008 and 2014, around 10% of which were thoroughbred or ex-racers. In most cases, the last known owners claimed that they had sold on the horse but were unable to provide information on the new owners.

We recommend enforcing existing legislation effectively, which is not happening and not consistent across counties. We would like to see consistency between Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and local authority veterinary inspectors. We would also like to see veterinary inspectors being more proactive. We would further like to see a review of the transfer of ownership regulations. Let us put responsibility on both the vendor and the buyer to update details with the passport issuing office. We would like to see a review of all equine legislation and full consultation, including with animal welfare organisations.

I would like to raise a concern about 2,500 donkeys around the country included in disadvantaged area schemes. We are concerned about what will happen should these schemes be disbanded or scrapped. We anticipate that in time there will be a large welfare problem with these donkeys.

We would like to see more co-operation between the industry and animal welfare organisations. We would like to see the industry support animal welfare organisations and, as I keep saying, to make sure all equines are traceable. We will only be able to do this if the legislation is fully enforced and there is full compliance.