Source:  News Release/Colin McClelland

DISADVANTAGED AREAS SCHEME - HSI MEETS WITH DEPARTMENT

HORSE Sport Ireland met with senior Officials from the Department of
Agriculture last week in relation to the exclusion of horses from the
Disadvantaged Areas scheme. 

Under this scheme, which is partly funded by the European Union, farmers
in disadvantaged areas receive an area based payment subject to carrying
out a certain amount of farming activity. The level of activity is
generally assessed by the amount of animals a farmer has relative to his
area of land. This is referred to as the farmer's stocking density.

The Minister for Agriculture announced on budget day in December that
horses would be excluded from the calculation to establish the minimum
stocking levels for eligibility for payments under the scheme. This will
result in many horse producers being excluded from the scheme.

Horse Sport Ireland CEO Damian Mc Donald said that the Department had
explained that over 2,000 herd owners had qualified for the scheme last
year through having only horses on their lands. 

"The Department are concerned that low value horses are being purchased
purely for the purpose of qualifying land for the scheme. They did
however make it clear that they do not want to exclude bona fide horse
breeders," he said.

"Horse Sport Ireland is concerned about the exclusion of horses and in
particular the precedent this might set. However, we will be engaging
with the Department over the coming weeks to find a resolution to the
issue. The production and breeding of horses is a legitimate and long
standing farming activity," he added.

"In order to qualify for this scheme applicants are only required to
keep the animals for three months and there is some concern about what
happens to these horses when the three months are up," he added.

"Obviously there will need to be detailed discussion about how to
establish the difference between a genuine producer and those who are
simply buying horses to qualify for the scheme, but we will continue to
engage with the Department to see if a satisfactory formula can be
found," he explained. 

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