THE quote “a rising tide lifts all boats” was mentioned at the joint committee meeting on Agriculture, Food and the Marine in Daíl Eireann this week. Sadly, it doesn’t apply to the Irish sport horse industry presently. Exactly 12 months on from the last time the affiliates met the committee, relations have only gotten worse between a number of the affiliate bodies and Horse Sport Ireland. The crux of the problem remains to be the changing of the constitution of Horse Sport Ireland and the way in which the current board was created. What will happen next?

I understand the ante will soon be upped on the affiliates creating a breakaway governing body, named Horse Sport Ireland Version 2 (HSI V2). They will look for their funding via Sport Ireland. As Michael Ring states opposite, the loser in all this is the industry and I certainly hope we are not in the same situation this time next year.

Passport figures

Separately, HSI released foal passport figures to The Irish Fieldthis week. From 4,481 applications for a foal passport, just 600 (or 13%) have been issued. Of that total (4,481), 49% of passport applicants (2,201) have not yet returned any DNA samples, so cannot be processed. So, of the total number of passport applications made correctly, 26% of them have been issued. That figure will do nothing to alleviate the fears of farmers and breeders, as we head into the busiest month of foal sales. Horse Sport Ireland promise that a further 780 applications are currently in process and will be sent in the next two weeks.