Leo Powell

MINISTER Simon Coveney has indicated that he will make a statement on the sport horse strategy document Reaching New Heights in the coming weeks.

Speaking to The Irish Field this week in his office in Agriculture House, he was upbeat about the future for the sector.

“There are some really exciting proposals in this in terms of raising the profile of the sport horse sector, particularly in show jumping,” said Minister Coveney. “More importantly I think there’s a clear path for us to follow in terms of improving breeding and tapping into the expertise that is there in the country.”

“We want to obviously tap into the expertise of so many different groups and experts, whether they are in riding schools, show jumping or eventing, whatever their interest. There’s been a lot of discussion and consensus building. We have a document now which we can stand over and we’ll launch in the next few weeks.”

He also spoke about the €600,000 allocated to Horse Sport Ireland for promotion and marketing. “Some of that will go into an Irish Thoroughbred Marketing-type structure. Some of it will go into prize money. We are looking to build a new show jumping circuit in Ireland, layered on top of what is already there.

“It has always grated on me that a lot of our superstars in show jumping essentially operate outside Ireland. So we need to bring some of them home and see their horses competing, and it can’t just be the Dublin Horse Show.”

The Minister cautioned about the need for accountability and value: “I’ve tried to put my money where my mouth is here, within reason obviously in terms of what we can afford.

“We probably will do an outside assessment of Horse Sport Ireland, just like we’ve done for Horse Racing Ireland. It’s important that we are always open to outside and independent scrutiny and constructive criticism.”