asked the Minister for Justice whether he will direct the Gárda Síochána to take special measures to restrain tinkers and other itinerants from allowing their horses, donkeys and other live stock to wander on the roads unattended at night in the vicinity of their encampments.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Road Trespass by Itinerants.
I shall call the Commissioner's attention to the matter, and I suggest that it would be helpful if particulars of any nuisance of the kind mentioned as to which the Deputy has information were supplied to the Commissioner.
The Minister, I am sure, is aware that it is becoming more and more a common practice to allow these animals to stray, and that tendency is further complicated by the intrusion of a number of these itinerants into the business of donkey jumping; that they go around the country with large herds of donkeys, which they turn loose on the public road at night or turn into adjacent farms, and that the Gárda find themselves in a difficulty in the circumstances that exist in dealing with them?
Last year the number of prosecutions in respect of animals wandering on the public road unattended was 2,290.
May I suggest to the Minister that with the happy conclusion of certain matters troubling the country for some years past, the time has now come to put into operation legislation in connection with the Pounds Provision and Maintenance Act, as that action would not now be misinterpreted?