Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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633. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether it is legal to confine some Irish mares' horse races to Irish bred horses only. [3934/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) is a commercial state body established under the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, 2001, and is responsible for the overall administration, promotion and development of the horse racing industry.

The organisation of horse racing is not a matter for my Department. The setting of race programmes is entirely a matter for Horse Racing Ireland, which have dedicated Fixtures and Programmes Committees to set the race fixtures and race programmes, taking various factors into account, including race patterns and race horse ages and population statistics. I understand from HRI that there are no races programmed by it that restrict entries to Irish bred horses only.