Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was anxious to come here to answer the question myself because this is a serious matter. The issue costs a lot of money and resources but it is one that I, as a Minister, am personally committed to. We need to change attitudes towards the welfare of horses among some communities in Ireland and we are taking action to ensure that happens at present.

Rather than read my answer, which the Senator will receive anyway, let me give some figures and commentary. The first year the Senator asked about was 2011. In 2011, we gave just over €2.7 million to local authorities, which claimed for the seizure of fewer than 3,000 horses in the year. In 2012, the sum was €2.2 million, or just under that figure, and 2,969 horses were seized. So far this year we have spent about €1.8 million and exactly 3,288 horses have been seized across all county council areas.

We have acted, and are acting, in a way that is consistent with the Control of Horses Act 1996. The legislation allows my Department to work with local authorities and pays them the cost of dealing with stray horses. Since then there have been more regulations and legislation, which has led to a more focused response to the issue of stray horses, or horses that are vulnerable to potential welfare issues. We have the Animal Health and Welfare Bill, which we debated for many hours in the House. We now have regulations that require horse identification in the form of a microchip and passport. Horse owners now have an obligation to have a registered equine address for their animals in order for them to be deemed the legal owner. That provision, combined with the Control of Horses Act 1996, allows us to take a more comprehensive approach towards dealing with stray horses.

This evening I want to send a clear signal to people. We are approaching the issue from one perspective only - the welfare of animals.

If my Department deems that horses are at risk of being abused or having their welfare compromised, we will act. We have been acting across the country in partnership with local authorities, consistent with the legislation, and in some cases with the Garda. For example, last week in Cork we seized 82 horses in an operation co-ordinated with the Garda, vets and Cork City Council. The horses are now impounded and their former owners can claim them back if they can show they have a passport for them and an equine-registered address where they can put them to be looked after. If they cannot show these, we will not give the horses back because we do not believe it would be in the interest of the horses' welfare. We now have the legislation to back up our position. We had an unfortunate revolving-door system whereby horses were being confiscated by local authorities for all the right reasons only to re-enter the system on being reclaimed by their owners. This was crazy and the unfortunate victims were the horses themselves. We are now going to put a stop to that.

If it is the case that 98% of horses seized in County Galway this year had no identification in the form of a microchip and passport, we will microchip them. One will not be able to reclaim them unless one accepts full responsibility for their ownership, pays for their identification documentation and shows proof of an equine-registered address for them to go to. In other words, the days of allowing horses to roam across publicly owned land, NAMA-owned land or abandoned development land are over. We will be starting to confiscate horses from such areas if we believe their welfare is likely to be or is currently being compromised.

With regard to the horses confiscated in Cork, for example, eight had to be put down because of welfare concerns. Two of them may have been claimed back and we are seeking to re-home a large proportion of the others. We are having some success in that regard, which is great. Ireland is a horse-loving country, as is the United Kingdom, and a considerable number of people are willing to take horses on a compassionate basis and put them out to grass. However, we need to be realistic about how we deal with this issue. I suspect that by the end of this year, we will have spent over €3 million on horse seizures with local authorities. The Senator can say to the county manager in Galway that we will, of course, work with him as long as he can show and guarantee an efficient management system associated with the seizure of horses. A number of local authorities are now working together to have more efficiency in the system, which is why there is an increase in the number of seizures and a reduction in the overall cost, although costs this year will be higher because the number of seizures will be much higher.

My first concern is the welfare of the animals. I am obliged to do what I can to guarantee and protect the welfare of animals, regardless of who owns them. We have an animal welfare hotline number, 1850 211990. If people have concerns about the welfare of horses or any other animals, I want to hear about it. The telephone number is the same welfare number people used during the fodder crisis. We will act on reported cases. If there are horse owners who feel that, for whatever reason, they do not have sufficient resources, land or fodder to feed animals over the winter months, we need to hear about it. We will intervene and I will provide a budget to do so. We will change the way in which horses in some parts of Ireland have been treated.

I do not want to hear anything about tradition as an excuse for compromising welfare. I want to see us proactively examining ways in which we can support communities that may not have access to land, but which may have a very strong traditional link with horses. This needs to be done in a regulated, supervised and controlled manner to ensure we look after the welfare of the animals first and foremost. In the absence of that, we will act and are acting. There is growing evidence to suggest we are taking this more seriously as the months go by.