UNLESS the local authority is ready to step up and tackle horse control in the city, all powers should be stripped from them, it was suggested at this month’s Metropolitan District meeting.
The comment was made during a debate on a motion from Aontú councillor Sarah Beasley, calling for Limerick City and County Council to immediately appoint an authorised officer to enforce animal welfare provisions.
However, Fine Gael councillor Dan McSweeney took the view that the local authority first needed “to get their own house in order”.
The City West representative reminded members that in 2021, the ISPCA (Irish Society for Protection of Cruelty to Animals) took the decision to stop providing enforcement in Limerick due to lack of funding and concerns for staff safety.
“Due to a series of credible threats to their personal safety, the ISPCA said that it had a duty of care to its employees, and the risk faced by their inspector on a daily basis had become intolerable. So, I think, as a local authority, we have to be extremely cautious. We cannot put an employee in the way of that intolerable abuse and threats,” Cllr McSweeney commented.
“I would ask extreme caution from the executive and that we have further discussion in relation to horse control, because what I’m seeing is the local authority are blaming the guards and the guards are blaming the local authority. I think it’s time now for somebody to step up and say, you know, we are going to tackle this. If we’re not going to tackle this, let’s remove horse control from the local authority altogether and let’s stop wasting money on it, because you’re making no inroads on it, absolutely none.”
Cllr Sarah Kiely (FG) called for an amnesty whereby people could surrender their horses if they’re not in good condition, if they were not able to maintain the animals, or if kept in inappropriate surroundings.
“We should also seek some sort of a funding to voluntarily chip horses, because it is the law after all, but obviously we don’t see that being enforced or implemented,” she said.
Cllr Kiely said the issue is not just about horses, but dogs and other animals, and called for a workshop to discuss the issues with all the relevant stakeholders.
“More recently it’s a goat. A multinational on the Ballysimon Road had occasion to contact Limerick City and County Council in consultation with the guards, and they were told if they allowed this very large goat to escape from their property, where they’re putting planning permission in for an expansion of their business, they would be responsible for any damage that the goat would cause. I have that in writing. You couldn’t make it up,” the Fine Gael woman hit out.
In response, Director of the Metropolitan District, Kieran Lehane, said that he had been dealing with the issue of horse control for so many years that he was almost the local authority’s “resident expert”.
“At one stage, we invested huge money into horse control putting in around €700,000 a year. The recoupment from the Department of Agriculture was about €200,000 or €250,000, so the net contribution from the local authority level is much higher. Did it solve anything? We wouldn’t be having the debate here today if it had.”
He also maintained that the control of horse legislation is “out of date” and was written to deal with stray horses in rural areas and not framed with an urban setting.
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme