Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the witnesses under unfortunate circumstances brought about by the programme. My party colleague, Deputy Flaherty, got into the passport issue with Horse Sport Ireland and, because of time constraints, I was to follow on from that if he was not finished. I am in an awkward position now that he is gone so I will leave that with him.

I ask Mr. Duggan to explain the following from his opening statement:

Aside from studbook documentation, horses can also be issued with what are known as identity documents. An identity document is a non-studbook document[.]

Will he explain how that works and why there is a need for duplication? Is it duplication? Can a horse live its life on just the identity document? Will Mr. Duggan talk a bit about the beginning of the programme? I know about the cruelty. I should have said, as I normally do in these situations, that I am a horse owner and breeder and a director of a rural racetrack. Any human being would find it hard to watch what was in the "Prime Time" programme but it was a bit more difficult for people who own, work with and love horses to see how they can be treated.

The programme started with the export of horses whose ages were turning out to be wrong. They were a lot older than the age they were being sold. I think “The man from RTÉ” was a song. The man from RTÉ found two microchips, just like that. How can that happen?