SUPPORTING the Irish rural breeder is the theme of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association’s submission to Government ahead of Budget 2020.

The industry representative body has put forward four proposals, detailing the potential benefit and the cost to Revenue of each. The proposals cover the transfer of fillies from training to breeding stock, mare depreciation, re-investment relief in quality broodmare stock, and small breeder investment relief. The Association has asked for the proposals to be considered individually, and have put them forward in order of priority for its members.

Outlining its proposals, the Association says that “the sires and dams we have available for breeding determine the quality of our foals. Incentives to improve sire and dam quality is vital to retaining our competiveness and also attracting skilled individuals to the industry. Despite our global position, we have seen a decline in the quality of our broodmare band, along with the number of new stallions standing in Ireland in recent years, which is a key concern for the industry.

“Assistance is vital to incentivise breeders to maintain a stock of high-quality broodmares and ensure we retain our global reputation as one of the leading producers of quality breeding and racing stock. The thoroughbred breeding industry needs support now to ensure it remains competitive and assist with market pressures that it is currently facing.”

The Association goes on to detail the potential impact of Brexit, the challenge overhanging all economic activity in Ireland. “With each passing day Brexit looms larger. The continued uncertainty is particularly difficult for the thoroughbred industry.

“While 60% of Ireland’s foal crop is exported, 80% of it goes to the UK market. Assistance for breeders, trainers, buyers and sellers of thoroughbred stock is essential in advance of Brexit to negate the impact of the UK’s exit.

“The breeding industry needs assistance pre-Brexit to ensure our members can prepare, sustain and grow their trade upon the UK’s departure from the European Union, and we can continue to compete with other EU equine producing member States.”

The ITBA submission, collated and summarised in conjunction with Grant Thornton Ireland, also expresses concern that breeding is not maximised throughout the island, and asks for help to encourage more people to become involved. It says: “The distribution of breeders per county remains a concern for the industry given that 72% of them are located in the 10 counties [By numbers they are Cork, Kildare, Tipperary, Wexford, Meath, Kilkenny, Limerick, Waterford, Down and Galway. Westmeath is the only other county with more than 200 breeders].

“Breeders are still focused in the traditional breeding counties. “Opportunities for breeders in non-traditional counties are required to grow their trade in these regions. Assistance is needed for rural breeders and incentives are required to attract breeders to these areas.”

The submission goes on to state that the breeding industry generates gross expenditure of approximately €590 million, primarily from bloodstock sales and stallion nomination fees. In 2018 bloodstock sales at public auction in Ireland was €161.5 million, an 8% decrease on sale figures from 2017. It warns, however, that while the first 6 months of 2019 saw an improvement in comparison to the same period in 2018, the potential impact of Brexit on the September to December sales for 2019 and post-2019 cannot be understated.

The ITBA says that its proposals have been prepared to assist the small/medium breeder who experiences the greatest impact of market difficulties.