Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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263. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps being taken to ensure all horses are micro-chipped; his plans to impound all non-micro-chipped horses; the up-to-date position in this regard; the steps taken to ensure the owners of abandoned horses can be traced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3616/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The identification and registration of equidae is governed by EU Council Directives 90/426/EEC and 90/427/EEC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 504/2008 of 6 June 2008. The EU legislation has been transposed into national legislation via S.I. No. 207 of 2014 - European Union (Identification of Equidae) Regulations 2014.

Regulation 504/2008, which came into effect on 1 July 2009, requires three elements of identification to be fulfilled in respect of each equine – i.e. a single lifetime passport, a method to ensure the unequivocal link between the animal and the passport (transponder) and a database which records the identification details of the animal under a unique identification number which relates to the animal for which the passport was issued and the person responsible for identifying the animal. However, Regulation 504/2008 does not require horses which were identified in accordance with the legislation which preceded it to be micro-chipped.

In view of the foregoing, it would not be legally possible for my Department to impound all horses which are not micro-chipped. However, I strengthened equine identification legislation last year with the signing of S.I. 207 of 2014 European Union (Identification of Equidae) Regulations 2014, which consolidated previous secondary legislation in this area and further reinforced my powers in relation to the seizure and detention of documents and equine animals.

In addition, equine identification legislation has been complemented by mandatory requirements which I introduced in recent years requiring the registration of equine premises and notification of change of ownership. In this regard, persons acquiring ownership of equines after 1 July 2014 are required to notify the  Passport Issuing Organisation which issued the horse passport of the transfer of ownership. The legislation also introduced a legal requirement on the PIO to record ownership details on the central equine database, which my Department established in 2013, when (a) a horse is first registered  with it and (b) when ownership changes take place.

In conclusion, I am satisfied that the measures which I have introduced in recent years will facilitate the identification of ownership in cases where horses are found abandoned. In addition, there has been an increase in enforcement of legislation relating to the identification of equines at sales, marts, fairs, etc, and I acknowledge the successful collaboration between other agencies and my Department in this area. I would like to assure the Deputy that my Department will continue to maintain ongoing vigilance in relation to the implementation of official controls on the identification of horses.