Thomas Gould
Question:
662. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Justice if the gardaí have codified offences under the Control of Horses Act 1996; and if so, the numbers of arrest and convictions for each of the offences in tabular form. [39216/22]
View answer
I have requested the information sought by the Deputy from An Garda Síochána, which regrettably was not available in the timeframe available. I will write to the Deputy when this information is to hand.
The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51.
I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 662 of 14 July 2022 where you asked: “If An Garda Síochána have codified offences under the Control of Horses Act 1996; and if so, the numbers of arrest and convictions for each of the offences in tabular form.”
As you will recall, Minister McEntee had sought the information you requested from the Garda authorities and undertook to contact you again once the information was to hand. The delay in responding to you is regretted.
As you will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for carrying on and managing and controlling generally the administration and business of An Garda Síochána. As Minister, I have no direct role in these matters.
I understand that there are 18 Offence codes available in PULSE (each with the prefix ‘A72’) which are specifically related to the Control of Horses Act. This information is included in the table below for the Deputy’s information.
I am informed that there were 1,961 charges/summons created using the offence code A7236, entitled ‘Animal Cruelty to Contrary to Section 1 Protection of Animals Act, 1911, as amended by Protection of Animals Act, 1965 and Section 48 of the Control of Horses Act, 1996’. A further 364 charges/summons created using offence code A7209 – “ Wilfully Permit a Horse to Pose Danger/Injury etc.”
The earliest charge/summons dated back to 2001.
Additionally, I am further informed that 874 charges/summons have been created to date which refer to ‘control of horses’ in charge/summons details, but which used a blank offence code or other offence code not within the ‘A72’ convention. Charges created using blank offence codes date to as early as 2003.
This data was extracted from PULSE on 20 January 2023. This is operational data and subject to change.
I hope this information will be of assistance to you.
