Mr. Greg Broderick:

My stable is based in Thurles in County Tipperary. I am an international showjumper and spend approximately half of my time in Ireland and half in Europe at international shows. That is because of the unfortunate lack of facilities to compete at international shows in Ireland. To give a comparative statistic, when I was an under-21 rider at the European championships in Athens in 2006, there were five riders on the under-21 team and another five on the under-18 team. From those ten riders, I am the only one left in the business in Ireland. All the others have left and set up in England, mainland Europe and America. That is mainly because the facilities in Ireland are not up to scratch and it is hard to produce horses to a top level. It is a very upsetting statistic to think that all of my colleagues when I was a young rider have had to move away.

In total, I have 18 full-time and five or six part-time staff and 70 horses riding out every day in my stable. We breed up to about 40 foals every year, have about 250 horses on the farm and, like Mr. O'Connor, all our investment is in Ireland. I mention hay, straw, feed and farriers. I love being based at home in Ireland. Unless things improve, however, when we are putting so many young horses on the ground - if we do not have better shows, prize money, and, most importantly, better facilities around the country to produce our horses - in the next three years I see myself closing my operation in Ireland and moving to mainland Europe, as all the people I grew up with have done. I am not asking for subsidies, I am happy to drive my own business forward and to look after that side of things.