Four groups within Irish horse racing have raised fears over continued international investment in horse breeding if concerns over the placement of wind farms and electro-turbines are not addressed.
The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association, the Irish Jockeys’ Association, the Irish Racehorse Trainers’ Association, and the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners have said in a submission to the Department of the Environment that “proposed developments will be a significant deterrent to future funding and support from overseas investors, who are integral to the industry”.
In other major horse breeding centres including in France, Britain, the United States and Australia there is no precedent for siting of major infrastructure so close as is suggested in Ireland. This is largely because of the nervous nature of young foals and the risk of them hurting themselves if scared by noise or shadow.
Irish horse breeding is recognised as the best in the world and is worth an estimated €1 Billion to the Irish economy with most investment coming in rural areas where there are fewer alternative sources of substantial employment.
Irish bred horses are likely to win a majority of races at the forthcoming Cheltenham national hunt festival and were responsible for nine of the ten Classic races run in Ireland and England in 2013.
Figures published in January by Horse Racing Ireland showed a value of Irish bred horse sold here or at public auction around the world last year to be worth €205 Million, an increase of 17%.
“Bearing in mind thoroughbred horses’ highly evolved flight response and their particular sensitivity to perceived visual or auditory threats, the organisations’ main concerns are for the safety of thoroughbred horses and personnel due to the very real risk of thoroughbreds being adversely affected as a result of a turbines being located directly within their range of vision or audibility,” the submission states.
David Redvers, a bloodstock agent, has told the Irish Examiner this morning that he is currently sourcing potential farms on which to base operations for Sheikh Fahad al-Thani of Qatar.
“It’s with regret that we read of the plans to allow the construction of large numbers of electro-turbines and pylons in the areas traditionally associated with quality Irish stud land,” Mr Redvers said.
“Developments of this kind are not conducive to the raising of top-quality bloodstock in the areas in which they are built. Therefore, we will be maintaining a watching brief regarding our future investments in Ireland.”
Submissions with regard to changing policies on the siting of wind farms had to be made by last Friday and a report is expected later this year.
