Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 25 Mar 1997

Vol. 476 No. 7

Written Answers. - Control of Wandering Horses.

Tony Gregory

Question:

369 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will request the Garda to arrange with the appropriate authorities to remove a pony from the open space in an area (details supplied) in Dublin 10 where it is being abused nightly by a gang of youths. [8175/97]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. Yates)

While I do not have a function in relation to specific instances such as this I nonetheless have had my Department contact the appropriate Garda station and the DSPCA. Neither had received any report of this particular case. The DSPCA indicated that it would send an inspector to the area to investigate the matter.

The Control of Horses Act, 1996, the commencement order which was recently made, will provide local authorities and the Garda with greatly enhanced powers to deal with the problem of wandering horses. I would expect that once local authorities have begun to implement the legislation this particular problem will greatly diminish in urban areas.