John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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480. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the impact Brexit will have on Ireland's thoroughbred breeding industry. [5344/17]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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513. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the impact Brexit will have on Ireland’s thoroughbred breeding industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5512/17]

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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520. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the impact Brexit will have on Ireland's thoroughbred industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5522/17]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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539. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the assessments his Department is undertaking regarding the impact of Brexit on the industry of thoroughbred breeding here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5872/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 480, 513, 520 and 539 together.

The equine industry in Ireland is important in terms of value and employment. Brexit may have very serious implications for the Irish thoroughbred racing and breeding industry and the concerns of the sector will need to be taken into account in any discussions/negotiations on the matter. To a large extent the horse racing and breeding industries of the UK and Ireland operate as one with horses, trainers, riders regularly moving between both jurisdictions.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that horse racing and thoroughbred breeding has always been operated on an all island basis in Ireland. All trainers in Northern Ireland are licensed by the Irish Turf Club and races there are run under the Turf Club's Rules of Racing. 90% of runners at these fixtures are trained in the Republic with horses moving on a daily basis, so the return to a hard border would seriously disrupt this movement.

The two countries operate a single entity for stud book purposes (i.e. British and Irish foals are both registered in the one stud book) and together with France, have historically had a tripartite agreement between the respective Departments of Agriculture to facilitate free movement of thoroughbred horses between the three countries. It is vital that this is retained.

Ireland exports of thoroughbreds to Britain are worth approx. €225 million each year, which may be at risk due to reduced trade flows following the vote in favour of Brexit. Any exchange rate volatility which might occur as a result of Brexit could also make Irish exports more expensive.

The introduction of tariffs or regulations has the potential to increase the cost of business and reduce the free movement of labour and horses.

The Government has adopted an initial Contingency Framework to map out the key issues that will be most important to Ireland in the coming weeks and months. This will be an iterative process as issues emerge and recede in the course of negotiations.

I am aware that the Board of Horse Racing Ireland are greatly concerned about the threat created by Brexit and have set up an industry wide group to examine the issues of concern and to ensure that the concerns are clearly known and addressed. The Board and officials from my Department are working closely together to highlight these issues.

My Department is engaging with EU institutions, other member states, stakeholders and with our counterparts in Northern Ireland and Great Britain and feeding into the overall Government Brexit response, which is being co-ordinated by the Department of the Taoiseach.