Mr. Denis Duggan:

Last year, we processed approximately 20,000 documents. Approximately 12,000 were new registrations. These were either foals or cases where somebody brought a horse between two and four years old, which had not been registered as a foal. There were also cases involving changes of ownership and making duplicates in cases where a passport had been lost. All told, 20,000 documents were processed through the year.

We had a significant issue coming out of Covid. We communicated with the industry and breeders. DNA testing can take a considerable number of weeks from beginning to end. As an animal testing laboratory, all of the DNA testing was done in a tier 2 laboratory. Unfortunately, because of Covid, during those years PCR testing and so on was prioritised. That put an extra strain on the overall system. We are out of that thankfully. The average turnaround time for most passports, because of DNA testing, is now between four and six weeks.

A DNA sample is normally between 40 and 50 hair follicles, which are sent to our DNA testing partner. If there are not enough, or if the hair roots are missing, a second test is done as part of the partner's quality control. That means between one week and ten days for each one of those first tests, and for a repeat test in a failure. After the second test, the breeder may be informed that a new hair sample is required. All of those things can cause inherent delays, but they are all part of proper quality control undertaken by the laboratory.

Our internal handling time on a passport from beginning to end is probably in the order of about one hour, in terms of the entire processing time. It should be borne in mind that hour is spread over between four and six weeks while the DNA testing is done. We do some checks when the application is made to issue a foal kit. The foal kit is the DNA testing and the microchip because every foal has to be microchipped. When the DNA results come back, there is the printing and building of the physical passport.