A lot has been said and written about equine traceability and welfare since RTÉ Investigates – Making A Killing was broadcast two weeks ago.

Here’s seven things that need to be done to lessen the chances of horses falling into the wrong hands and being exploited at the most vulnerable time of their lives.

1 Step up checks on shipments of horses at Irish ports bound for export. An experienced vet should know the difference between high-value yearlings going to a sale and a truckload of nags heading for the continental black market. There are suspicions that false paperwork is getting through.

2 The Department of Agriculture has to be seen to be coming down hard on those who are in breach of equine welfare laws. Following the RTE Investigates programme, there is a widely-held perception that the Department does not take the issue seriously enough.

If someone is found in possession of fake passports and blank microchips, they should be prosecuted. Even if someone has not updated the passport with new ownership details, they should be punished.

3 Everyone who registers a thoroughbred with Weatherbys or a sport horse with Horse Sport Ireland must pay a fixed fee to cover end-of-life disposal. This money will fund a service which can be requested by the final owner of the horse whereby the horse is humanely put down at home and the carcass taken away, at no cost to the owner.

This will reduce the incentive for the horse’s final owner to take cash from a dealer to take the horse away and possibly export it or change its identity with a view toward getting the horse into the food chain.

4 It has been exposed that the paper passport and neck microchip systems are easy to subvert. Apparently every horse registered has a DNA profile taken but this information is locked away in a Weatherbys database and you can only get it if you send in a hair sample and wait a week for a result.

We need to develop mobile technology whereby you can get a DNA result almost on-the-spot and therefore, a horse’s identity can never be faked.

5 Horse Racing Ireland and Horse Sport Ireland can only do so much – they are not a police force. But they can do more to hammer home to horse owners that they have a responsibility for their horses’ welfare and they better be very careful if they decide to ‘move on’ the horse to another owner.

6 Ireland can pass a law preventing the export of horses for slaughter but it is only impactful if it applies throughout the EU. Does anyone know of a recently elected MEP with racing connections who could lobby for this change?

7 It’s unpleasant to consider but Ireland needs a properly-run horse disposal system. It could be an abattoir or incinerator, a place where unwanted or stray horses can be humanely destroyed.