From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine Michael Creed TD has today welcomed the approval by Fáilte Ireland of €1.9 million in grant assistance to the Irish National Stud (INS) for its Irish Racehorse Experience (IRE) project.
Minister Creed extended his thanks to Fáilte Ireland for its collaboration with the Irish National Stud:
“The project demonstrates the positive outcomes that can be achieved when there is effective collaboration between State agencies on a project of common interest."
Minister Creed also paid tribute to the board, management and staff of the INS for their business foresight and innovation in developing the tourism sector of the business:
“This is a very different project for the Irish National Stud. It complements the core business well, and I have no doubt that it will add an exciting element to any visitors experience once it is complete."
The Irish Racehorse Experience will celebrate the excellence of Irish Horses and Irish Horsemen worldwide. It will explain the origins of the Irish connection with thoroughbred horses, and will demonstrate the diversity of talent and activity which has evolved around this passion.
It will be built on an easy to understand narrative of “Birth to Old Age “and will provide an insight into the dream of being connected with a racehorse, whether it be through breeding, owning, training, working with horses, or simply following the career of a thoroughbred.
From the point of view of the INS, the project will increase dwell time, lengthen the open season, increase visitor numbers and in turn increase revenue from 2020 onwards.
The IRE development will take one year to complete with a projected cost of €3.2 million. The balance of the development costs will come from INS own resources.
ENDS
The farm at Tully Co. Kildare was purchased from the Fay family in 1900 by Colonel William Hall Walker. Hall Walker became the most successful breeder of the age, enjoying his finest hour when King Edward VII led Minoru, born and raised at Tully, into Epsom’s winners’ enclosure following a famous victory in the 1909 Derby.
In 1945 the Irish National Stud Company Ltd. was formed and it officially took over the running of the Stud on 31 August, 1946.
The INS combines four separate but interlinked business operations of stallion services, tourism, education and horticultural activities which include: