Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 20 September 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Challenges facing the Horse Sport Industry: Discussion

Mr. Niki Potterton:

This is the agriculture committee and we are coming in somewhat from the perspective of Sport Ireland. For us in eventing, there is a huge tie-in between agriculture, breeding and sport in that it is lovely when we see an Irish rider riding an Irish horse and winning a medal. If we do not have a breeding programme that encourages this, we will not have Irish riders on Irish horses. That is where the agriculture aspect arises. As Mr. Corrigan said, we all need to talk to each other and we need to bring breeding money into sport as well. Ultimately, Irish riders and horses winning medals is what Ireland need and wants, and that then helps our whole agricultural sport sector as well.