THE Irish Horse Board (IHB) is hopeful that it will be granted additional funding for the introduction of a targeted Inward Buyer Programme to attract more oversees customers to Ireland.

As Budget Day looms on Tuesday, October 1st, Alison Corbally, Director General of the IHB, told The Irish Field: “The situation regarding Budget submissions is somewhat different since the Government tendered for service providers to promote and market the sport horse industry (and provide breeding services), as each tender contract had an annual budget amount specified.

“Having said that, the Irish Horse Board have requested additional funding to offset ongoing inflationary costs and for the introduction of a targeted ‘Inward Buyer Programme’, to support buyers coming to purchase sport horses and ponies in Ireland.

“This programme would be very similar to the very successful model provided by DAFM for the thoroughbred sector through Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and would therefore level the playing field between the two sectors. The Irish Horse Board have been very proactive regarding submissions to DAFM and now also have considerable support from the sales companies for the initiative. Under the scheme, overseas clients would receive a small contribution to offset their accommodation or travel costs when purchasing a horse in Ireland.

“Given that we are experiencing a softer demand for foals and unbroken youngstock currently, it is particularly important that the breeders whose production model is dependent on selling foals and three-year-olds are supported through this challenging period. The foal producer’s ability to sell their foals is vital to the continuation of a vibrant breeding sector, which is made up of approximately 15,000 small rural, farmer breeders.

“Anything that negatively affects the foal market, will have a significantly detrimental long-term impact on the sector. Any disruption to the foal market will distort the number of horses that have to be retained as three-year-olds and their subsequent value. Most breeders do not wish to retain foals, and many do not have suitable or safe facilities to do so. The fundamental point that foal and three-year-old sales must be supported has already been presented to DAFM.

Obstacles

“The current weaknesses in the UK economy, together with the additional costs associated with Brexit, have presented increased obstacles for our UK clients, which is our largest market.

“The Irish Horse Board has received very positive market research statistics from UK contacts, which we met at events this year, which indicate that an Inward Buyer Scheme, such as the one proposed, would entice new customers to Ireland to purchase young sport horses and ponies.”

Corbally added: “The Irish Horse Board will continue to seek additional measures to support Irish breeders to maximise the returns from sport horse breeding, to ensure this environmentally friendly agricultural sector can grow and prosper into the future. However, currently, the sector needs additional support in the shape of a targeted sport horse Inward Buyer Scheme.”

Overall, there is little hope of any substantial increase for the sport horse sector, following the splitting of the tenders in 2022, when the IHB was awarded the provision for marketing services and Horse Sport Ireland retained the studbooks and national breeding services, when an annual budget was specified up to 2027.

Meanwhile, in the lobby returns filed last week by Horse Sport Ireland, among the relevant matters raised was public funding, specifically the need for additional funding for integrity measures and integrity programmes, as part of the National Breeding Services to support all equine studbooks in Ireland, undertake enhanced integrity measures, as well as an overall increase in National Breeding Services funding for the equine industry in Budget 2025.