Furious horse breeders have called on Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to address continuing delays in the issuing of foal passports by the Department of Agriculture-mandated Horse Sport Ireland (HSI).

Foal passports, the equivalent of blue cards for calves, are legally required to transport and sell foals but have been subject to lengthy delays since last year.

A new online system launched for registrations last July has caused consternation, with breeders reporting long delays in passport issuing, classification errors, and the potential loss of foal sales.

HSI charges €172.20 plus €12-€16 for tracked delivery for pedigree foal passports online and €197.20 plus delivery for paper-based applications.

Wexford-based horse breeder and producer Joan Douglas told the Irish Farmers Journal this week that the delays are hitting the trade for foals.

“Small breeders like me will not breed again, it’s just too much hassle,” she said. “I know of another breeder who not only breeds his own mares but also buys 12-15 foals per year.

"This year he told me he would not be buying any foals until the breeder had the passport in their hand. That dampens the trade, it takes away competition for foals.”

Typically horses are sold as foals or at three years old, so breeders who cannot sell foals now due to passport delays face significant additional costs involved.

Speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal General Election 2024 live debate last week, Minister McConalogue described the passport delays as “unacceptable”.

“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 HSI to make sure that the challenges and the backlog are expedited and dealt with,” he said.

“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 HSI to make sure that service is returned to what is a nor mal level of service and normal level of delivery time, as quickly as possible.”

HSI this week confirmed that some staff are working extra hours in an effort to speed up processing times and get passports to breeders.

The most recent update from HSI on 15 November showed that 5,764 foal passports have been applied for.

Of this number, some 3,569 foal kits were sent to breeders and 1,268 completed passports were issued.

HSI CEO Denis Duggan said the organisation “significantly underestimated the number of breeders that would migrate instantly to HorseSource” and that while breeders “are to be commended for moving to the new system in such huge numbers, this has had an impact on the operation of HorseSource”.

HSI has also apologised to customers for its communications, but the long phone queues and unanswered emails have continued into this week.

Comment

HSI is facing a storm of criticism because of a combination of factors. It increased its fees for pedigree recorded passports by 50% in 2024, saying that passports were making a loss at its 2023 prices.

Then the new HorseSource system was introduced at peak foaling season, instead of in winter when only a trickle of passports would be processed. Introduced in mid-July, the new system is now at the centre of a major backlog which is costing breeders time and money.

However, the communication vacuum from HSI to breeders has been equally frustrating for breeders who are forced to spend hours on hold in a queuing system to a call centre, while return phone calls and email replies from the organisation are few and far between.

Collecting €4.5m in funding from the Department of Agriculture each year, HSI is simply not providing an adequate service to breeders this year.