THE Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine, Martin Heydon, has been briefed by his department officials about frustration among horse breeders with Horse Sport Ireland’s passport service.

Briefing documentation for the new minister, seen by The Irish Field, warned Minister Heydon: “There has been frustration amongst breeders with the services provided by HSI, primarily focused on the passport delays.”

His department advisers also alerted him to the ongoing stand-off in relation to the Horse Sport Ireland board.

“Certain stakeholder bodies are also not satisfied with the amended constitution rules and the process for industry members to be represented on the Board,” the official briefing notes read. “This stand-off has resulted in one Board position remaining vacant.”

Passport numbers

Horse Sport Ireland last week said that it has issued 4,768 pedigree foal passports, from the 5,537 foal kits which have been sent to it by breeders.

This, HSI said, equated to 86% of pedigree applications having passports issued where DNA was provided by customers. A further 12% of DNA kits have not been returned to HSI from breeders, it added.

Horse Sport Ireland will receive €854,000 in grant aid from the Department of Agriculture in 2025 for data collection in the genetics and equine breeding area, DNA sampling and analysis, as well as equine education, research into equine diseases and breeding, promotion and marketing.