Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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1153. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there will be a tightening of the legislation in relation to the registration and tracking of horses and ponies (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14803/22]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I would like to inform the Deputy that primary function of an animal identification and traceability system is to support the management of animal health and food safety challenges. Animal identification systems in Ireland establish the location of animals, and the keeper responsible for the care of the animals. These systems are not concerned with the actual or beneficial ownership of animals.

The rules on the identification and movement of terrestrial animals in the EU are contained in Commission Regulation 2019/426 (Animal Health Law), supplemented by its implementing and delegated regulations. In acknowledgement of the more varied purposes for which equines are kept, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/963 sets out the rules for ensuring the uniform application of equine traceability across the EU.

My Department's Animal Identification and Movements (AIM) database encompasses the central equine database and records the required identification and movement data of bovines, ovines, caprines, porcines and equines, as determined by the relevant EU legislation.

The Animal Health Law has introduced a requirement to record the premises where equines are habitually kept. In this regard, and in keeping with my ongoing commitment to review and enhance the equine identification and traceability system, my Department undertook the first annual equine census in November 2021.

The data returned in this context is currently being compiled and will be used to establish equine herd profiles for equine keepers, for the first time linking equines to the premises where they habitually reside. Further development of AIM is planned to provide equine keepers with a facility to update their own equine herd profile directly as equines move in and out of their premises.

Separate to the animal identification and movement systems, S.I. 201 of 2016 was introduced to enhance the traceability of equines as they move through the life cycle. This requires that, where the ownership of an equine is transferred, the person to whom ownership transfers must provide the new ownership details to the relevant approved equine Passport Issuing Organisation. The PIOS update this information on my Department's central equine database. It is expected that the formal linking of equines to their keepers via the annual census and the ongoing updating of habitual residence of equines on AIM will increase compliance with S.I. 201 of 2016.