asked the Minister for Defence the total cost of running the Army Equitation School each year since 1972 to date; the total amount spent in each of these years on the purchase of horses; and the total amount recouped in each of these years from the sale of horses.

The information sought in the first part of the Deputy's question is not readily available and a considerable amount of work and time would be involved in calculating the amounts concerned.

As the reply to the other parts of the question is in the form of a tabular statement, I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle to circulate the statement in the Official Report. Following is the statement:

The total amounts spent in each year since 1972 to date on the purchase of horses for the Army Equitation School are as follows:

The total amounts realised in each year since 1972 to date from the sale of Army horses are as follows:

Would the Minister like to say how many horses were involved?

I gave that information last week.