Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 June 2025
159. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to detail the level of State investment in the horse sport and leisure industry, in each of the past 10 years, broken down by programme and county. [34662/25]
View answerThe following tables outline the money provided from my Department to the sport horse sector in the past ten years:
|
Year |
Sport Horse Sector Grant |
Equine Technical Support and Equine Breeding Schemes |
|
2016 |
€1,870,000 |
€845,763 |
|
2017 |
€2,060,000 |
€850,000 |
|
2018 |
€2,500,000 |
€843,152 |
|
2019 |
€2,995,923 |
€713,531 |
|
2020 |
€3,985,921 |
€551,937 |
|
2021 |
€4,359,096 |
€695,523 |
|
2022 |
€4,546,125 |
€718,836 |
From 2023, the sport horse sector funding was distributed under contract and split between national breeding services and marketing services.
|
- |
National Breeding Services |
National Breeding Services Operational Fund * |
National Marketing Services* |
Equine Technical Support and Equine Breeding Schemes |
|
2023 |
€2,245,621 |
€1,500,000* |
€800,000* |
€653,738 |
|
2024 |
€2,229,749 |
€1,500,000* |
€800,000* |
€718,354 |
|
2025** |
€2,900,000 |
€1,500,000* |
€800,000* |
€854,000 |
*Net of VAT
**Budget Available
Other State investment which have benefited the sport horse sector from my Department during this period include:
• Under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, the equine sector was included in the Knowledge Transfer Programme which had a total budget of €100m.
• Eligible equine holders have an opportunity to obtain funding from the current Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) which facilitates them to invest in important infrastructure for their farms. Supports are available for housing, training facilities and fencing which assists to make the breeding and handling of horses safer for farmers and the animals.
• Under the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), eligible equine breeders, who keep Connemara ponies, Kerry Bog ponies or Irish Draughts have had priority access to the scheme through the option on the ‘Conservation of Rare Breeds’ measure.
Breakdown of all State funding by county is not readily available.
