Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 November 2020
364. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to work collaboratively with an organisation (details supplied) and other NGOs to enforce equine ID and a clampdown on horses being kept on public land without the landowner's permission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35840/20]
View answerRepresentatives from my Department sit on the Dublin Regional Horse Welfare Group. My Department is strongly committed to the aims of this group and will continue to support the projects that developed from the Group. While Covid-19 has somewhat hampered the Groups activities in 2020 in the areas of outreach and education, my Department continue to collaborate with, and support the other members of the working group in the area of equine identification and welfare.
In relation to the matter of horses straying on public lands, the Control of Horses Act is the primary mechanism for dealing with these.
Under the Control of Horses Act 1996, a local authority may make bye-laws to control activities involving horses in its functional area and may prohibit the keeping of horses in specified areas.
My Department has also taken a proactive approach in tackling challenges that arise in the case of horses by developing facilities for urban and traveller horse populations and in educating young people among these communities in the care and welfare of horses. This work is done in close collaboration with the local authorities involved.
