Shocking new figures were published in The Mirror today about Irish horses slaughtered in English abattoirs. They suggest that 782 horses with Irish passports were slaughtered in England last year. A total of 538 of those had racing industry passports. In other words, they were racing horses. At least 46% of these were five years old or younger. To be clear, these were not euthanised. They were stressfully transported and then slaughtered for meat in abattoirs. Why are horses barely a few years into their lives being slaughtered for their meat rather than being rehomed when this industry receives €80 million a year in public funding? What has happened to the Government commitment to leave no stone unturned following the "RTÉ Investigates" programme into what happened at Shannonside and other slaughterhouses? Are we going to address the issue of rehoming horses? Are we going to deal with the issue of systemic overbreeding of horses? What is happening in Horse Racing Ireland?

Deputy Murphy is raising an important issue. The welfare of horses is critical to the future of our breeding industry here in Ireland and we also need to ensure the right standards are adhered to to fulfil the commitments we have to animal welfare. I will have to revert to the Deputy, and I will, with a detailed answer to his question because it is important and I do not have a briefing in front of me today that allows me to give the answer the Deputy's question deserves.