Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department has had extensive and ongoing negotiations with the industry and the Commission on this matter. I raised the subject with Commissioner Hogan on Monday of last week in Brussels. It does not just affect the thoroughbred sector because the horse sport sector also sees very considerable volume. I saw figures recently suggesting that anything up to 30,000 sport horses outside of the thoroughbred sector move east to west on an annual basis. The issue with regard to the thoroughbred sector is complicated by the fact that there is all-island administration of racing through the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board and there is an all-island stud book for the thoroughbred sector. It is complex. We are looking at ways to facilitate that. There will be some additional administrative obligations but we are trying to make the matter as simple as possible to ensure that movement can continue because that is critical to the industry here. I am very conscious that it is a highly mobile industry and that anything that is perceived as an impediment could be to our disadvantage if it is not resolved. We are looking for clarity in many respects on a range of issues where none is immediately available because we do not know what the UK's response is but we are committed to working with the industry to make the new arrangements relating to when the UK becomes a third country as user-friendly and efficient as possible.

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