Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

990. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of horses exported from Ireland to China in the past ten years; the method of transport of those horses in tabular form; and if he has concerns in relation to the fate of these animals in a country with no animal welfare laws. [24468/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In 2012, the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney and Chinese Vice Minister Wei Chuanzhong signed a protocol agreeing animal health requirements and detailed rules for the establishment, within Ireland, of quarantine facilities to facilitate the direct export of horses to China and so reduce, significantly, the costs associated with such exports.

Before the new protocol was signed, horses had to complete quarantine in another EU State which would then process the transit.

The protocol was designed to assist in developing what was a new Irish direct export market for the Irish thoroughbred industry.

The first consignment direct from Ireland arrived in May 2014. Since then, the following numbers of horses were exported directly to China:

201921 horses

20189 horses

201764 horses

201672 horses

201514 horses

201429 horses

All horses would have been flown, usually by a chartered airplane.

No horses were exported in 2020 due to COVID 19.

In 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the General Administration of Sport of China issued a joint notice advising of a new scheme for the development of horse industry from 2020 to 2025. China has committed to further improving the control system for drugs and prohibited substances in horses, gradually establishing a horse welfare system in line with international standards and plans to release an annual report on the credibility of China's horse racing.