Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In August, I asked the Minister and the Department to consider introducing more effective penalties to deal with the mistreatment and abandonment of horses. I spoke after the Minister told me in a reply to a parliamentary question that the Department had spent €4.5 million. Today, the Minister has said it is €4.3 million so €200,000 is missing. This is with regard to the seizure and control of horses in the three year period from 2014 to 2017. I do not know why the Minister cannot keep the figures the same as he told me the last day. Local authorities have been engaged from 2008 to 2016. It is farcical. We have a very proud equine record in Tipperary, as the Minister knows and I am sure he often has a flutter. We have very prominent racing horses. We have to deal with this issue. It is an underbelly and it is happening. I am aware of a very serious situation at present, and I asked the Minister a question about it back in August. It is with regard to a horse who was totally mistreated. This horse had travelled the world to England and America and back again. It fell into criminal hands. It was then abandoned in a boghole in Littleton and taken away by animal rescue people. It has been treated but is not yet back to full health. The Department told people where the horse was and is insisting it be handed back to the same people from where it came. Where is the tagging? Where is the traceability? We have to have it in all aspects of farming. Why can we not have it for these horses and these people?

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