Waterford councillors express frustration over ‘huge hole’ in horse legislation

A number of Waterford councillors have expressed frustration over the “huge hole” in national horse legislation.

The Control of Horses Bye-Laws were discussed at the June plenary meeting of Waterford City and County Council.

Director of Services Gabriel Hynes made clear to councillors that this was just to commence the process for the drawing up of the bye-laws.

Mr Hynes said: “Just to advise you that we are going to commence the processing for reviewing our Control of Horses Bye-Laws.

“It has been through the Environment, Biodiversity and Climate Change SBC meeting on May 20.

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“The recommendation from the SBC is to put the by-laws on display, seek submissions and then come back to yourselves then for formal adoption and to consider any submissions that are made.”

He went on to outline what impact the proposed by-laws would have on council policy.

“The main changes that are coming from the SBC are just from a definition point of view, to ensure that the control area is now going to be the entire area in the ownership of Waterford City and County Council.

“So at present, those changes are the issues only, but certainly we would welcome any submissions in relation to the current bye-laws.”

Sinn Féin councillor Jim Griffin subsequently formally proposed that the bye-laws go out for public consultation.

Cllr Griffin said: “As chair of the Environment Committee, I’d like to thank the council and the environment team for the amount of work they put into this.

“It was hoped that it would come to us at an earlier stage but it took a lot of work to get to where we are.

“The SBC really trashed this out there and looked at it and I’d be happy to propose it today.”

However, he went on to highlight that sulky racing cannot be prohibited by the bye-laws.

“Just before any questions come up on sulky racing, this doesn’t include it.

“We can’t put the sulky racing or sulky use on our public roads into this bye-law act so just to minimise questions for you later on, it can’t be part of this.”

This was a point of frustration for independent councillor Joe Kelly, who argued that something needs to be done about sulky racing at national level.

Cllr Kelly said: “This is a really hot topic and unfortunately bye-laws can’t bring them in.

“I intend on bringing a motion to the council in the next number of months trying to call directly on the Minister to change the legislation.

“Specifically, circumstances to deal with sulky racing on public roads so although this change and this update is good and beneficial, there is still a huge hole in it, not down to this council but from national legislation.”

Sinn Féin councillor John Hearne also looked to speak on the subject of sulky racing, but was quickly shut down by Mayor Seamus Ryan.

Mayor Ryan acknowledged the comments made by councillors but pointed out that sulky racing is not something that falls under the remit of the council.

In response to the councillors, Mr Hynes said that enforcement around sulky racing is a matter for An Garda Síochána.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil councillor Eamon Quinlan enquired as to what land and which horses would fall under the new legislation.

Cllr Quinlan said: “I suppose looking at this law and the implementation, my question is around halting sites, physical land where people reside that are owned by the council.

“My question is [that] the definition of public area is quite broad. We all get emails from members of the Traveller community, representatives of the Traveller community, we don’t build stables as a matter of course with these halting sites.

“So my point is, are we about to make every horse in every halting site suddenly seizable under the way we’ve worded this?”

In response, Mr Hynes explained that the bye-laws will only apply to horses that are not under control.

He said: “Just in relation to the control area, I suppose the important thing here is that these bye-laws deal with loose horses or stray horses that are not under effective control.

“So if they are anywhere on public lands, anywhere on a public road and there’s no effective control, we have the power to seize those horses.

“In relation to the public lands that the horse is on, then the owners of the people who have those horses can contact the local authority for a licence for those horses.”

Mr Hynes concluded that there will be certain conditions that such licence holders will have to adhere to.