HORSE Sport Ireland (HSI) hope to begin re-issuing passports in the next “week to two weeks” as they near completion on a changeover from IT systems, while 200 foal passport applications remain outstanding from 2023.

HSI CEO Denis Duggan and Dr Sonja Egan, head of breeding, innovation and development, appeared in front of the Joint Committee on Agriculture in the Oireachtas on Wednesday, alongside representatives from Horse Racing Ireland and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, with the topic of welfare and traceability featuring heavily.

Michael Fitzmaurice, TD (Ind), came down heavily on HSI, saying he is contacted on a continual basis from angry breeders, who cannot get their passport. “Why is there such chaos in your organisation, what has gone wrong?” he asked.

Mr Duggan replied: “We’re in the middle of changing over IT systems, and we’re expecting to have that new system up and running within the next week to two weeks, and that will mean that breeders will be able to apply for their passports.”

Fitzmaurice questioned Mr Duggan on why they are only issuing emergency passports at a cost of €150. “We’ve had to stop processing anything other than an urgent application, so that we could migrate the data from the old system that we’re retiring to our new passport system. But at the same time, we are conscious that breeders will need to do things in an urgent fashion, like a change of ownership. So, we’ve kept that facility in place.”

2023 passports

The committee learned that approximately 200 foal passport applications from 2023 are still outstanding. “In the context of the 2023 passports, we are dealing with about 200 applications, where we are waiting on information from breeders, and they are the last of the 2023 applicants that will be receiving passports. But in all of those cases, we are either waiting on the DNA result to come back, or we are waiting on information from the breeder, and every breeder is aware of that,” Mr Duggan said.

Deputy Joe Flaherty, TD (FF), put it to HSI that 75%, or two in three foals, were sold without a passport in 2023 due to the issuing delays, to which Mr Duggan replied: “It is illegal for any horse to be sold without a passport. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a foal or a yearling, it’s not supposed to be presented for sale without a passport.”

Mr Duggan was also asked if all breeders have received their foal kits for 2024. “No, we’re launching our E-passport system in the coming weeks. We have probably about 2,000 foal kits issued. Breeders will be applying for their foal kits when the new system goes live.”

One breeder who spoke to The Irish Field said they applied for three foal passports (all sent together by registered post) before the May 15th deadline of the old system closing, and they received one of the three passports back this week.

Another, who breeds from two mares in the south and wished not to be named, said they cannot get through to anyone in HSI HQ. “They were supposed to have this new system in place in the middle of June and now they are saying it could be another week or two. Who was responsible for pulling the system in the middle of the year? There’s not a whole lot of money one way or another out of this, but Horse Sport Ireland are costly to deal with, so they should be on the top of their game.”

Leniency

Deputy Fitzmaurice asked why is there such leniency around the traceability of horses, citing the bovine system as one to mirror. In 2016, rule SI 201 surrounding the transfer of ownership was changed to say that the signature of the seller was not required.

Deputy chief veterinary officer at the Department of Agriculture, Mr Michael Sheahan said it was his understanding that the rule was changed “because people in the industry said the current system wasn’t working. So we changed on the best advice at the time that the new system would work better. In hindsight, it’s not working very well. We’ve a list of about 10 things that we’ve already decided we need to look at pretty quickly and that’s certainly one of them.”

Fitzmaurice asked why the equine industry can’t mirror the AIMS system. “The Department knows where everyone’s animal is right around the country. There is half a million calves born every year and, within a week, we have a card for them. Why is there not DNA sampling in horses, it’s an embarrassment for our country, why have we not resolved those issues?”

“It is more complicated in horses, whether we like it or not, than cattle. But that’s not an excuse,” Mr Sheahan said. “We’ve been trying since 2013 to tighten the screws in relation to horse traceability. And, to be fair, I think we’ve made a good bit of progress, but obviously there’s still a long way to go. And the big thing that’s been put forward as being the thing that will really change the game is the E-passport System.”

Fitzmaurice also asked why there are seven passport issuing organisations, some “not functioning”.