Dr. Sonja Egan:

I cannot speak to any specific conviction, I am not aware of it. Identity documents issued by the Northern Ireland Horse Board would have been working off the basis that it received a valid application that was signed off by a vet. That is, the board received a marking chart that was signed and stamped by a vet with a microchip on it that was not existing on the system, or I would speculate was not on existing on the system. It would be hard for the board as a passport issuing organisation, PIO, therefore, to identify that this animal was not previously on the animal identification and movement system, AIMS. For argument's sake, Horse Sport Ireland have a public-facing database that anyone can log onto at this time and look at animal details. The Department also launched a microchip checker, which will be available to them on the basis that these were new passport documents. It would have been notified by the Central Equine Database in the UK, so it is not within the AIMS database here.