John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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773. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the action his Department will take to assist in resolving the health of animals on the farm of a person (details supplied) as all efforts by his Department and the person to date have failed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26480/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department has had extensive correspondence with the named person, who has made consistent and repeated claims about his experience of poor athletic performance and impaired health status of the horses on his farm since the 1990's.  Extensive testing of samples submitted by a number of different veterinary practices over that time identified no specific cause of the claimed poor performance of the horses.  In 2014/2015, following further queries and requests from the animal keeper, my Department committed significant resources to an intensive multidisciplinary investigation co-ordinated by a senior manager in my Department’s veterinary laboratory service with significant expert participation and support from the UCD Veterinary School, the Irish Equine Centre, the Department’s Laboratory Service and the Department’s local Regional Veterinary Office.  Repeated field visits, clinical examinations of all of the horses on the farm and repeated testing of a suite of samples from the animals and the farm were conducted over a full season.  This exhaustive investigation identified only two minor and well-understood health issues affecting the horses, which were reported and explained in full to the animal keeper and referred to his professional advisers for resolution.

The findings of that multi-agency report give no substantive cause for concern regarding the overall health and welfare of the horses on the holding.   I understand that  minor issues were identified and are being addressed by the animal keeper & his advisers. No investigations to date have found any evidence of any significant disease process or any exotic infection in these animals.  Therefore, there is no appropriate role for my Department to involve itself further in this case nor is there any indication for further investigations or interventions at this time.