Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent)
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I will be brief because these poor people have been here all day. I thank everybody for their educational, informative and up-to-date presentations. I have a few comments and questions. Some of the witnesses might concentrate on racehorses whereas the representatives of the Irish Horse Welfare Trust and the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals might know more about urban horses. Given that we are still in a huge crisis, it is hypocritical that we are sitting here relying on the horse to a significant extent culturally and economically. Ireland is the fourth largest breeder of thoroughbred racehorses in the world. We are up there with the top showjumping countries. Bertram Allen is fifth in the world. We are brilliant at eventing. We have many horse fairs. We are at risk of destroying our reputation because, as far as I can see, we still have a major crisis.

I would like to put to the witnesses a question we all have to ask ourselves. This House spent a great deal of time on the animal health and welfare legislation. Is our legislation sufficiently robust and detailed to deal with this crisis? Does the current legislation or the implementation of the law go far enough? Is it going anywhere at all? Are the fines or levels of penalties anywhere close to being acute enough? It seems to me that people are getting away with murder. Do we need to revisit that? Do we need to have a miscellaneous animal health and welfare Act that gets down to more detail? I heard the points that Deputy Penrose, who is very experienced in this area - I will not say weathered - put to Mr. McGrath and his colleagues. The Deputy said that while it is easy for the Department to make these wonderful laws and pass them on to the councils, if the councils do not have the money, they will not have the training, the resources or the people.

I do not always agree with Deputy Heydon, but I agree with him that horses do not belong in urban areas. Perhaps it is not popular to say this. I know there are people in urban areas who love horses. I am aware that it is part of their tradition. I am sorry to say that horses belong in rural areas. They are a bit like myself in that regard.

I thank Ms Power and Ms Myerscough for their presentations. The importance of education as one of the solutions came across hugely in what they had to say. I would like them to tell me more about their current funding position. What do they think they need to make a serious and meaningful impact nationally? We want to deal with the crisis. I know the Minister, Deputy Coveney, wants to do so.

I feel the Department's solution was to round up the horses and euthanise them - I hope painlessly - but that does not appear to have happened because that was talked about 18 months ago. The horsemeat crisis has not gone away and has affected hugely the market where people brought their horses to be slaughtered and got their couple of hundred euro. That continues to be a reason there are so many extremely distressed, starved, neglected, tortured and abandoned horses all over Ireland. I agree with Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív on the betting tax. I wish HRI was here today because it gets magnificent funding from the Government. I know it is never enough and I know how important the thoroughbred industry is but the horse as a whole is important to us as a nation. The horse industry, be it for small breeders, is a pillar.

I have a question for Mr. Derek Iceton. I note we have gone from quantity to much less quantity. Is he worried about quality? My husband kept telling me there were too many mares and foals in the country but now the numbers are down and, sadly, the number of breeders is down. Is there a problem with quality and what could be done to get some serious quality injected into the smaller breeders, in particular, to give them the ability to breed world class horse?

I ask Mr. Brendan McGrath if he has come across sulky racing and, if so, are there plans to control or ban it, particularly on the hard roads where there have been many deaths of horses? Has the Department provided council workers and the Garda with scanners so that if they come across a horse they can scan it to see whether it is registered? As many people have said today, registration is one of the names of the game. I could talk all day but as it is now 5.45 p.m. enough is enough.

Ms Barbara Bent and Dr. Andrew Kelly spoke about the donkeys. There are about two and a half donkeys who will be looking for homes soon. What are going to do about that?