Recommendations for the development of the equestrian sport and leisure sector are eagerly awaited, said Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan yesterday at the opening of the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show.
The Minister said she anticipated rapid progress would be made this autumn by an umbrella group set up to examine the sector by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism.
Ms Coughlan said her officials had estimated - using figures from the breeding, competition and leisure sectors - that there were approximately 70,100 sport horses in the State.
Equine tourism had long been recognised as an important niche market in the growing non-package holiday sector, she said.
The horse show was a prime example of the spectator element of equine tourism, attracting as it did large attendances from around the world, she said.
Activity-based holidays, another kind of equine tourism, included riding lessons, pony trekking, and participating in shows and competitions.
"We are particularly prominent in eventing discipline," said Ms Coughlan.
"Last year the Irish Sport Horse Studbook was the leading studbook in the World Breeding Federation of Sport Horses eventing rankings for the 10th consecutive year."
The same theme was taken up by the chief executive of Fáilte Ireland, Seán Quinn, at the opening of the show by Dublin Lord Mayor Cllr Catherine Byrne.
She had arrived at the RDS in Dublin in the mayoral horse-drawn coach. Mr Quinn said Fáilte Ireland had identified the leisure horse market, and the sector now attracted 30,000 overseas visitors to Ireland, generating revenue of €30 million.
Consumer research had shown, he said, that visitors wanted to be involved in activities such as equestrian sport and golfing, and it was important that the sector be developed to facilitate this.
He said Fáilte Ireland was delighted to be involved in the sponsorship of the show.
It was a showcase for the best of the Irish horse industry and a world-class event that would be viewed by millions on television worldwide.
The lord mayor said that travelling in the carriage from the Mansion House to the RDS grounds in Ballsbridge had been a triumph for her because she had always been afraid of horses since she was a girl and had witnessed a rag-and-bone man's horse bolt.
"It was a wonderful breakthrough and triumph for me to travel here by horse and then get out of the carriage and slap one of the horses on the side," she said.
The horse show was one of the capital's most colourful events and was very important to the people of Dublin, who had shown their support for it down the years by their attendance, she said.
An estimated 100,000 people are expected to visit the showgrounds over the weekend.
Today is Ladies' Day, when a panel will choose the most appropriately dressed woman at the event.
She will win a diamond worth €10,000.