Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The equine industry is worth €2 billion and employs 28,000 people directly and 58,000 people indirectly. Deputies Cahill, McConalogue and I discovered at a meeting last night that people genuinely believe they will put out of business, which is appalling. We need a guarantee that the decision to reclassify the equine industry as a leisure industry will be reversed. The industry has always been classified as agriculture and continues to be classified as agriculture for development levies. There is no reason for this change and we need an assurance that it will be reversed.

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