The Minister for Agriculture says he intends to bring in a centralised system for issuing passports for horses. It comes after 25 horses presented for slaughter at Ossary Meats in Co. Offaly had irregularities relating to their passport and microchip identification.

This was revealed in a report yesterday following a Department of Agriculture inspection last Friday.

It found issues with the horse markings being different to those noted on their passports and some of those presented as being yearlings being much older.

The report highlighted a number of points:

• The equine DNA found in consignments of frozen beef products was labelled to be of Polish origin. It says "there are clear concerns about the activities of traders/intermediaries operating outside the State. Information uncovered in the investigation has been passed to the appropriate authorities and Europol".
• In the case of one Polish company, whose product was found positive for equine DNA, the Polish company arranged to collect the consignment and reimburse the Irish operator (QK Meats).
• The investigation concludes that in the case of Silvercrest and Rangeland Meats there was no evidence that they deliberately purchased or used horsemeat in their production processes or that these companies were relabeling or tampering with inward consignments
• B&F Meats was found to be involved in mislabelling of a limited quantity of horsemeat for export to the Czech Republic. While the company claims that no fraudulent intent was involved, the placing of a false label on a product and the question of instituting legal proceedings in this respect remains under consideration

There are currently a number of licensing bodies for horse passports. And Minister Simon Coveney says legal changes are on the way.

He spoke to Breakfast here on Newstalk.

The Minister also spoke of his concerns in the Dail last night: