Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon has today (Friday, July 24) announced a scheme aiming to bolster horse traceability in this country.

The Equine Traceability Improvement Scheme 2025 will provide €500,000 in funding to support the use of IT solutions by passport issuing organisations and equine sales houses to monitor the movements of Ireland’s equine population more effectively.

The scheme is open to the seven passport issuing organisations (PIOs) as well as the five main equine sales houses.

The deadline for receipt of applications is September 30, 2025.

The scheme follows the publication of a report by Prof. Paddy Wall who carried out “a root and branch review of the whole traceability system” for horses in this country.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) commissioned the report in the wake of an RTÉ Investigates broadcast in June 2024.

The documentary exposed evidence of systemic flaws in the traceability of horses and how this was threatening the human food chain across Europe.

Launching the new scheme, Minister Heydon highlighted said that "IT solutions have been transformational in the traceability of animals".

"In his report on how to strengthen equine traceability, Prof. Paddy Wall recommends the adoption of technology to reduce admin burden and have our systems avail of the best international advancements.

"I want the beneficiaries of this scheme to use this aid to explore the innovative options available to improve how we capture equine life events and the movement of our equine population," he said.

The Wall report proposed a number of wide-ranging recommendations including that IT solutions should be used to solve some of the traceability gaps.

Minister Heydon has published an action plan to deliver the reforms proposed by Prof. Wall, which include:

Automated transfer of information between equine PIOs and private veterinary practitioners (PVPs) and owners/operators of horses;
Implementing a digital solution for notification of change of ownership. This is currently a time-consuming and paper-based system;
Automated transfer of ownership data from sales and auction houses;
Digital solution to capture real time updates relating to a horse’s life events, such as the chipping and marking of a foal by the PVP;
Use of QR codes on passports.

Minister said that the key objective of this scheme is ultimately to improve equine welfare.

“Robust traceability is fundamental to ensuring horse owners and keepers are accountable for the welfare of their horses.

"Without accountability, horses are vulnerable to neglect and mistreatment. Investing in better traceability is an investment in better equine welfare," he said.