AN advertising standards complaint against the Irish Horse Board (IHB) has been dismissed. The complaint pertained to an advertisement on the IHB’s own website inviting people to become a member.

The ad listed reasons for joining the organisation, including that a letter of support from IHB could be used by members to access the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s ACRES scheme. The ad stated: “As part of Budget 2024, funding for the agri-environmental scheme increased by €40 million. This will bring the total allocation for the scheme to €200 million for 2024. The minister announced that Tranche 2 of ACRES will open for applications in the “next few weeks”. Don’t wait, join the Irish Horse Board to meet the membership requirements for equine participants of the scheme.”

The complainant considered the advertisement misleading, as they said that only breed societies were eligible to provide such letters of support for the DAFM ACRES and that the advertisers were not a recognised breed society by the DAFM. They pointed to Circular Number 8 published by the DAFM, which listed the very organisations which could provide such letters of support for access to the scheme.

Response

The IHB explained that it was a Co-operative of several thousand sport horse breeders and producers and was set up on the recommendation of an expert group, established by the then Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry in 1993, following the abolition of the semi state body, Bord na gCapall. They said that, from its establishment, the IHB operated the Irish Sport Horse and Irish Draught Horse Studbooks and acted as the Breed Society for these breeds.

The IHB also explained that, in 2006, through agreement of the Irish Horse Board as the representative organisation for breeders and producers and the Equestrian Federation of Ireland as the representative organisation for the equestrian sport side, an umbrella body, Horse Sport Ireland (HSI), was established for the Irish sport horse sector. They clarified that, in July 2008, the IHB handed over the operation of the Irish Sport Horse and Irish Draught Horse Studbooks to HSI as part of the overall agreement, but the IHB continued as the representative membership body for these studbooks.

The IHB said that the Terms and Conditions of ACRES and its predecessor, Rare Breed schemes, required applicants to show proof of membership of the Breed Society for their breed for the duration of the contract, with registration of animals also required. They explained that as the current holder of the studbook licence was a Company Limited by Guarantee and did not have horse breeder/producer members, the requirement to be a member of the relevant breed society was fulfilled through applicants being a member of the breeders and producers’ representative body, the Irish Horse Board.

The IHB said membership was confirmed through a letter issued by the IHB to members, who used this to demonstrate compliance with the terms and conditions of ACRES and said this arrangement had been agreed with the Department. They said the advertisement was fully compliant with the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland Code of Standards for Advertising and Marketing Communications in Ireland, in that it was truthful, honest and could be substantiated by the IHB.

Decision

The Advertising Standards Authority executive sought clarification from the Department as to whether or not applicants were eligible for ACRES through the presentation of a letter by the Irish Horse Board. The Department clarified that for the purposes of ascertaining eligibility for the ‘Conservation of Rare Breeds’ action as part of the approval process for acceptance into ACRES, documents in respect of the Irish Draught Horse breed from the IHB were accepted.

The Committee noted that, while the IHB had handed over its studbooks to HSI in 2008, it continued to act as the representative body for the latter organisation and was therefore in a position to supply confirmatory letters to its members for access to the ACRES programme. The Complaints Committee concluded that it did not consider that the advertisement breached the Code at the issue raised in the complaint.