Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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136. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of horses in the country during the years 2011 to 2015 to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28074/15]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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138. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the central equine database collects information on the unregulated sector of horse breeding; if he has information on the number of such equine animals each year from 2011 to date in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28076/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 136 and 138 together.

There are no definitive statistics on the total number of horses in the country for the years in question.

The central equine database , which was introduced by my Department in 2013 , incorporates all relevant identification information recorded on the individual databases of approved equine Passport Issuing Organisations (PIO) operating in Ireland, as compiled during the course of the equine identification and passport issuing process. The central database was retrospectively populated with relevant equine identification data dating back to 1 January 1980 and current updates commenced on 1 May 2013.

A study undertaken by my Department and completed in 2012 indicated that there were approximately 200,000 horses in the country in 2010. It is estimated that this number has declined significantly since then due to a sharp decrease in the number of foals born and an increase in the number of horses slaughtered: the number of foals born in 2013 was 32% lower than the number recorded in 2008 and slaughtering levels in 2011 and 2012 averaged over 20,000 head per annum compared with 2,000 in 2008.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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137. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of thoroughbred foals born each year since 2011; the number that enter the racing industry each year; the number of thoroughbreds that leave the industry each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28075/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) is a commercial state body established under the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act 2001, is responsible for the development and administration of horseracing. The following table which was provided by HRI outlines the number of thoroughbred foals born in each of the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The number of horses in training, which is an estimate of the number of horses in the racing industry, is also shown in the table.

HRI advise that the number of thoroughbreds leaving the industry each year is a difficult figure to quantify as a number of factors need to be taken into consideration. Some horses may be exported for racing or breeding purposes. Some horses may retire from racing for breeding purposes and remain in Ireland whilst others may be removed from training or breeding altogether due to age, death or injury.