THE Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, has reiterated that the delays to Horse Sport Ireland’s passport issuing services are “unacceptable”.

McConalogue was speaking after a live election debate hosted by the Irish Farmers Journal in Dublin on Thursday evening.

Asked about any progress that is being made, the Minister said: “I am not happy with the delays that foal owners have been experiencing in relation to getting their passports, and I’ve been engaging with Horse Sport Ireland to make sure that the challenges and the backlog is expedited and dealt with.”

He added: “It’s really important farmers get that service and get it efficiently. That hasn’t been the case over the last period of time, and I think everyone accepts that is not acceptable, and that’s not good enough. I know I funded Horse Sport Ireland to reform their systems, and I know they’re working really hard to get on top of this, but it’s crucial to get on top of this really quickly, because it’s an essential service for farmers and for horse owners.

“They [breeders] need to begin to get the passports to be able to transfer horses, sell horses, and make sure that they can continue with their normal farming and their normal business. I’m working hard with Horse Sport Ireland to make sure that service is returned to what is a normal level of service and normal level of delivery time, as quickly as possible.”

Asked if he would consider putting Horse Sport Ireland’s contract as a passport issuing organisation under review, McConalogue did not directly respond to the question.

“It’s essential that the service is provided efficiently, and it hasn’t been up to that standard over the last period of time. They’ve had challenges and issues, which they’re working through, and I’ve been engaging with them to make sure that they’re working through them quickly. I’ve no doubt they will get into a situation whereby a service is what it should be, but I want to see that happen very quickly.”

Told that it could be too late for breeders who miss out on the foal sale window and end up with horses until they are three years old, due to a lack of a passport, the Minister added that the situation is “just not good enough”.

Update to passport numbers

In a positive uptake, Horse Sport Ireland issued 341 foal passports in the last seven days, plus another 264 amended passports. That shows a significant increase to the numbers published here last week, which showed a figure of 321 in four weeks. It is understood HSI will release figures on a fortnightly basis.