MEATH West TD, Peadar Tóibín (Aontú) and Sligo-Leitrim TD Martin Kenny (Sinn Fein) tabled a series of questions to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine recently about Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) passports.

Deputy Tóibín, on Tuesday of last week, asked if the Minister was “aware of the issues facing HSI with registering and access to a passport for foals born in 2024; and the steps he has taken to ensure this does not repeat this year”.

The Minister’s response was as follows: “I am aware that there have been delays with the issuing of passports by Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) in 2024, following the introduction of an ‘e-passporting system’ which is called ‘HorseSource’. Officials in my Department are in regular contact with HSI and my Department has been informed by HSI that they have introduced a number of measures to assist in reducing the turnaround time and that continuous improvements are being made. While the issuance of passports is a matter for each passport issuing organisation, including HSI, I am aware of the impacts that delays can cause and I have instructed my officials to continue to work closely with HSI to ensure that commitments for the 2025 season are delivered upon.”

Deputy Tóibín also asked about the average wait time for a passport from HSI and was told the current average time taken from receipt of an application to a passport issuing is 39 days.

Another question pertained to the amount of funding HSI receives each year from the State. The Minister answered by saying: “HSI is contracted by my Department to deliver the national equine breeding programme. Under this contract, which was awarded following a competitive procurement process, HSI receives funding of €1,500,000 (ex VAT) annually to deliver the service. As a recognised studbook, HSI is also eligible to compete for funding under the annual Equine Technical Support and Equine Breeding Schemes. The amount of funding awarded to HSI under this scheme will vary from year to year. Since 2023 the details are as follows: 2023 - €254,375, 2024 - €218,698, 2025 - €320,076. HSI also receives funding from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.”

The minister also provided Deputy Tóibín with information on the number of passports issued and the number pending (as of June 6th 2025) for each of the last five years as outlined in table 1 above.

On May 22nd, Deputy Kenny (Sinn Fein) also tabled a series of questions on the matter of passports and was given the following data regarding the number of applications completed and dispatched to the customer within 40 days of receiving DNA test results (table 2) and the number of DNA samples that required re-sampling (table 3).

Current foaling season

While the tabled data applies to cumulative numbers, taking the 2025 breeding season in isolation, HSI has, up to May 30th, received 709 applications and issued 39 completed passports. From these 709 applications, 706 are with pedigree, with three non-pedigree applications received. 690 pedigree applications have had their foal kit sent to the applicant. Of those foal kits, 537 (78%) have not yet been returned from breeders to HSI for pedigree applications.

Of the 153 applications who have returned their foal kits to HSI, 39 have been completed and the passport issued and five are currently undergoing quality control checks, while the remaining applications’ DNA samples are currently with the laboratory for analysis.

Of the 44 passport applications, where the DNA samples have been returned to HSI from the laboratory, 39 are complete.