IT does feel like Martin Heydon, the current Minister for Agriculture, is making forward-striding meaningful progress in terms of cleaning up the multiple and ongoing loopholes in equine traceability in the country.

Granted, he did come into office six months after the biggest scandal surrounding equine welfare and traceability in recent years and had been left with little choice but to push forward with reforms to get the sector in line with other departments under his remit, like cattle. The new system was first mooted by former Minister Charlie McConalogue at a time when Heydon was Minister of State at the Department.

Earlier this year, the Minister announced a very ambitious action plan off the back of Professor Paddy Wall’s report on Ireland’s equine traceability system. Wall was scathing in his review of the systems in place and the Minister made a real statement with his plan which looked almost impossible to implement in the given timeframe.

There is plenty still to be done on that plan, but some progress has been made, most notably the announcement by Heydon that the new Equine Central Database will be launched in the coming weeks

Read more on the Equine Database here

However, I, like others, am not yet fully convinced on how immediately effective the Equine Central Database will be, as the foundation of the new system was the 2024 equine census. The Minister said all of the census returns have been converted into equine herd profiles, similar to the cattle system. On last correspondence from the DAFM in August 2025, they had received 22,248 responses covering 118,948 equines, with reminders issued to 9,000 non-respondents.

The reality of the 2024 census, in its third year, is that it only had a 49% response rate. The Department said those who do not engage with the census would have their Equine Premises Registration Number (EPRN) deactivated which would prohibit them from receiving equine passports and export certification but, to our knowledge, this has not happened.

I currently have some questions in with the Department’s press office, including whether operators who did not complete last year’s equine census had their EPRN deactivated as threatened and, if so, how many cases of this has there been. The Minister has acknowledged that visible enforcement of the legislation governing traceability and welfare is needed and I think 99% of operations will agree with that.

In July, the DAFM launched a €500,000 funding equine traceability improvement scheme to support the use of IT solutions by passport-issuing organisations and equine sales houses. Again, it was a positive move but, in reality, was only a drop in the ocean in terms of making a real difference.

The DAFM, to their credit, are making strides to tackle this problem head-on. June 2026 will see two years pass since RTÉ Investigates uncovered the shocking truths behind Ireland’s equine traceability systems and if, by then, major strides have been made, that will be seen as a big win for Minister Heydon and his department.

The topic of a horse abattoir is another lengthy one but, briefly in my opinion, the country is not a better place without it despite some people calling for a permanent ban on horse slaughter after the RTÉ exposé. We have since seen 560 horses exported to EU countries for slaughter since August 2024, while there are no recorded movements of horses for slaughter to other EU member states prior to August 2024. Horses being exported hundreds of miles away for slaughter is certainly not a better welfare outcome than it happening within Ireland in accordance with the rules and regulations.

The date has not yet been released for the 2025 equine census, but one would expect it will be at end of this month. Did you fill out yours in 2024 and will you comply and help move equine traceability along this year? We must not be complicit; every single response helps fight against the so-called ‘rogue traders’. Aside from that, it is a legal requirement, if you keep equines, to return your census, as well as being an important way to show you believe in accountability as a responsible horse keeper.

If you have an opinion on the topic, please contact me at jfaherty@theirishfield.ie