Breeders use ‘backdoor’ route to bring horses from Ireland

HORSE breeders are evading expensive fees and onerous paperwork by transporting high-value mares via Northern Ireland in a Brexit loophole.

Under current rules, horse owners must pay VAT of 20 per cent for the value of each horse when transported directly from the Republic of Ireland into Great Britain. Although the VAT can be claimed back when the mare returns after breeding, the outlay can run into thousands of pounds.

Vets, hired by transport companies, must fill in up to 20 pages of health documents for each horse transported between Dublin port and Holyhead which can also involve higher fees.

The amount of documentation means some horses stand in boxes for up to eight hours a day and are at risk from dehydration and travel sickness, horse welfare charities have warned.

Some transport companies are instead delivering horses in 500-mile-round trips from Ireland into England via Belfast, where they are ferried over to Cairnryan in south-west Scotland.

On this route, owners are not required to pay VAT and the health checks and paperwork are far less stringent on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Prize mares are predominantly transported in this “backdoor” route, the Racehorse Transporter’s Association has said. Merrick Francis, RTA chairman, said: “The irony of all these checks is the fact that it is not in the interest of the horses.”