Show news: The Irish Horse Board (IHB) yesterday received a boost with the announcement it is to receive an extra €200,000 under the National Development Plan for the coming year.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, at the opening of the 131st Dublin Horse Show at the RDS, said it would bring IHB funding under the plan to €505,000 for this year, and to a total of €2.2 million for the first four years, 2001-2004.
In a statement, the Minister said the NDP funding was additional to the annual grant-in-aid the board received amounting to €2.3 million over the same four year period.
It was also announced that Fáilte Ireland was providing €175,000 in sponsorship funding to boost the prize fund for the RDS Nations Cup, which will be held tomorrow.
The Fáilte Ireland donation is to boost equine-related tourism to Ireland. This currently attracts 40,000 overseas tourists, who spend in the region of €32 million annually here.
The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, said: "Fáilte Ireland is making a concerted effort to ensure that Ireland is placed firmly to the forefront of the minds of the international equestrian community as a quality destination."
He added that the benefits for Ireland of testing an international event of the calibre of the Nations Cup were immense, generating tangible tourism dividends.
In his statement, Mr Walsh said that, with regard to stallion performance testing, a grant was payable to the owners of young stallions, adding that the stallions were required to go through a performance test prior to approval.
He said a grant was available to assist in the purchase of top-quality stallions, and under the Premier Mare Scheme the IHB had held competitions in which over 1,800 mares had been assessed. Some 50 per cent of those had been awarded "premier" status and qualified for prize money of €635 per mare.
The show, which was attended by over 20,000 people yesterday, was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Michael Conaghan, who travelled from the Mansion House to the show in the Lord Mayor's coach escorted by eight members of the Garda Mounted Unit, all on Irish Draught Horses.