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. Robert Fagan:
Yes. It is something that has been talked about for years but it has never come to fruition. A tax incentive to encourage a business or private investor to invest in a horse for these athletes would be of huge benefit. As I said, they are punching way above their weight as it is, but what if there were a mechanism or structure to incentivise people to hold on to these horses and give them to the top athletes? We are absolutely brilliant at what we do and we have a fantastic industry. Unfortunately, the tradition has been that when a rider gets good, he or she must emigrate. What has changed in the past couple of years is people have put their hands in their pockets to improve their facilities and encouraged these people to stay at home and produce these horses at home. We want to stop the rot. We want to stop the horses going and the athletes going. We want to try to get as much help as we can to keep the horses and the athletes and improve the facilities.