Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has said that the equine census has been extended due to some technical difficulties with the online system for submitting census returns.

Any holding with equines must be registered as such. Breeding farms with foals registered to the studbook will already be registered as this is a requirement of the registration process in Ireland. Registered premises should have a nominated keeper and any holding registered for cattle, sheep or goats will simply have their registration amended to include equines.

Applications should be submitted to your local Department of Agriculture regional office.

If accessing the census portal online, it must be accessed via the Agfood log-in account using your username and password.

An application can be accessed at this link.