Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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463. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if equal recognition and opportunities will be provided for equine farmers through access to TAMS schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48870/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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There are a wide variety of items available under the suite of seven measures under TAMS. Grant aid is available for for horse stocks under the Animal Welfare and Nutrient Storage Scheme and the Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme.

To date, total expenditure under the seven measures of the TAMS, including transitional expenditure, has reached in excess of €312m with commitments of an additional €145m made to scheme participants who have yet to draw down those grants.

Some 44,574 applications have been approved under the scheme.

All outstanding approvals issued represent potential outstanding liabilities for the Department and we must have a budget in place to pay these claims.

As a result, it is not possible to consider adding additional items such as investment items for equine farming to the comprehensive list of investment items already available under TAMS.

No decision has been made in relation to the interventions to be included in the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP)(2023-2027). To allow for the submission of the draft CSP by 1st January 2022, the Department facilitated a public consultation on the draft CSP and written submissions were invited from interested parties by the closing date of 3rd September 2021. These submissions are currently being evaluated and ongoing stakeholder consultations are continuing to take place.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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464. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will be implementing the Knowledge Transfer, Horse Production Pathway; if he will invest in regional training and production facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48871/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I am committed to assisting in the promotion and development of equine breeding and production systems in the country. This is achieved through working closely with Horse Sport Ireland (HSI). The sector has had tremendous successes in the Eventing discipline over many years with the Irish Sport Horse Studbook being first in the world rankings for 22 out of the last 25 years.

In recent years, there have been major successes for our young horses in the show-jumping discipline in World Studbook championships with these horses excelling at international venues like Lanaken in Belgium.

Building on the key principles of good breed improvement programmes and developing the skills of breeders to access young horses early and produce them early for their appropriate market, Horse Sport Ireland proposed the National Equine Production Pathway which is a knowledge transfer programme, as part of their Strategic Plan. This programme supports horse assessments, health screening, young horse production and educational days for breeders. This is clearly a programme I can support.

My hope for the sector is for Ireland to be in the top division of the World Breeding Federation of Sport Horse Studbook ranking for show-jumping in 10 to15 years, producing horses that fit with market demands, properly produced for that market. I will continue to work closely with HSI so that this can be achieved.