Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 242: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of equines with a passport issued under her Department regulations; the number of equines here without such a passport; the reason for her failure to enforce her Departmental regulations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8966/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Six equine breeding organisations have been approved for the purpose of maintaining a stud book under Regulation 3 of the European Communities (Equine Stud-Book and Competition) Regulations, SI 399 of 2004. Their obligations include the issuing of equine passports for equines included in their respective studbooks. In addition two organisations have been approved under Regulation 7 of the European Communities (Equine Stud-book and Competition) Regulations, SI 399 of 2004 for the purpose of issuing equine identification documents only.

My Department does not have the information on the number of horses on the various studbooks held by the bodies for the maintenance of studbooks or of the number of identification documents issued. There is no legal obligation on the bodies to provide this information to my Department. Most recent estimates provided to my Department suggest that there are about 200,000 horses in the country, a lesser figure had previously been estimated. A recent study on the horse sport industry for the Irish Horse Board estimates that there may be about 8% of horses unregistered.

Nonetheless my Department is actively following up on the requirement that equines be identified in accordance with these Regulations. The Department has written to the managers of some of the principal marts reminding them of the provisions of the Regulations. A publicity campaign is also being arranged to remind the general public of the regulations relating to the identification of equidae. As a follow on to this action Department Officers will carry out random compliance checks with regard to identification documents at sales, ports and other places where horses are assembled.

In the meantime my Department has also been in discussions with the European Commission regarding its forthcoming proposals on the identification of equidae. My Department has drawn the Commission's attention to the desirability, from a disease prevention perspective, to make it mandatory to register any premises in which horses are kept. The Commission has also been informed of my view that the proposal to introduce compulsory microchipping for equines serves no purpose without provision being made for the establishment of a compulsory central database that can link the microchip number to the animal identification.