Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1990 > Committee on Commercial State-Sponsored Bodies (6th Committee) > Report No. 01 - Irish National Stud Company, Limited

APPENDIX D

MEMORANDUM ON KILDARE BY-PASS BY NATIONAL STUD

The Curragh which is the Company’s main tillage and hay growing area will be cut 40% - 60%. The motorway then bisects the Tully East and Tully West farms 9% - 91%.

The problems which the motorway will cause are as follows:-

1.The perception of the Stud as a top-class International Farm with an International reputation will be destroyed. A stud’s most important asset is its location in tranquil surroundings with a relaxed atmosphere for the mares. Putting a motorway through the land will destroy this tranquility and will result in the certain down-grading of the operation with consequent loss of clientele.

In addition owners of top-class stallions might re-consider the Stud as a location for their horses if the prestige of the Stud were harmed by the motorway.

2.The main entrance to the Stud will be by bridge over the motorway. This is not going to add to the Stud’s reputation. The alternative to this is re-location to French Furze Road but unfortunately this would be difficult as the motorway will be too close to this entrance, thus creating a third rate image.

3.Black Cherry Yard, with 32 stables, which adjoins French Furze Road, will have to be knocked as it would be impossible to house horses within yards of a motorway. This would not be acceptable within the industry.

4.The Kildare Yard which can currently keep 66 horses will not have enough land to service the stables.

5.Minoru Yard with 25 stables in Tully West will not have enough land to service it.

6.The noise from the motorway will cause problems with horses in nearby fields. This will be particularly important with yearlings and foals.

7.The extra lighting involved will be most detrimental to fertility. The most important influence on the oestrus cycle of mares is the increasing daylight brought on by the onset of Spring. By artificially increasing the amount of light to 16 hours per day the fertility of mares can be greatly influenced and increased. To increase further this light causes major adverse effects.

Motorway lights and lighting from vehicles will increase the light to 24 hours per day and this will cause a major decrease in fertility with a consequent loss of confidence by the Stud’s clients.

8.The effects of air pollution cannot be underestimated and will obviously further damage the Stud’s reputation.

9.The income from tourism enterprises will be adversely affected both from the walks throughout the Stud and additionally the length of time the landscaping will take to hide the starkness of the motorway. The effects of the Naas by-pass, opened in 1983, are there for anyone to see and to date landscaping done in the seven years since completion has not camouflaged the ugliness of the motorway.

Currently the Stud is the most visited stud in the world and is the only studfarm in Ireland open to the public.

10.The farming enterprises on the Curragh Farm will have to be cut back with the consequent extra costs of buying additional feedstuffs. Currently the Stud is somewhat insulated from the vagaries of market forces as it is self sufficient.

11.The Stud will have to buy extra land to replace that which is lost. This cannot be done easily and certainly will not adjoin present land. There would be an increase in the running costs of land which does not adjoin the farm e.g. transport of stock between the two, with inherent transport dangers, loss of time with staff, inconvenience to clients.

12.For the duration of the building work, the extra noise and mud will be most disruptive. The effects of this cannot be emphasised enough.

13.As the number of stallions is cut back, the Stud will also have to cut back on the number of students accepted annually as it would not have enough work for them. Currently 26 students are being trained. This is very important to the future of the horse industry as many graduates are in most prominent positions e.g. Manager, Coolmore Stud; Manager, English National Stud.

There will also be effects on the local community as follows:-

14.If the motorway goes through the Stud it will cut it off from the town. This will mean that the image of the town and the Stud being bound closely together will be broken irreparably. Tourists and visitors who currently come to the Stud, the Japanese Gardens and the Horse Museum are unlikely to visit Kildare town with the consequent loss of income to the town.

15.Redundancies which would be inevitable will affect spending power in the locality.

16.The drop in tourism income will be somewhat offset by charging entrance fees to all locals who have in the past been allowed in free.

17.The Rugby and Gaelic Football Clubs will not be able to use stud land, as heretofore.

In summary, the Board of Directors feel that the effects of “route B” will be catastrophic to the Stud.

(a)In the short term it will mean a major cut back in operations with consequent loss of income and redundancies. Currently nine stallions are standing at Tully and there is only one other stud in Ireland standing more Thoroughbred Stallions. In the long term the Board does not believe that the Stud could survive the adverse effects caused by the Motorway.

(b)It would be ironic that a country which promotes itself as pollution free and green with a major horse industry would put a motorway through its National Stud. It would be most damaging to the image of Ireland and would undo the major promotions of this country, over the last 20 years, as a place to invest in horses and farming.

(c)It seems a contradiction that the County Council who only a few years ago twinned County Kildare with Lexington, the heart of the Bloodstock Industry in America, should now contemplate degrading the Irish National Stud which is so central to the Irish Bloodstock Industry.

(d)The present motorway proposal relates to a by-pass of Kildare Town only which will connect the existing dual carriageway on the Curragh to the existing road west of the town. The Board suggests that it is very shortsighted to by-pass each town individually and then to upgrade the existing national primary roads between them. This will cause major disruption to traffic during construction with the consequent loss to the economy, both nationally and locally.

(e)The Board feels that the County Council should consider a direct connection between the Curragh and the Portlaoise by-pass. This has, to date, not been examined in detail by the County Council.

It would have the following advantages:-