I apologise for the absence of the Minister for Justice, who is unavoidably absent. I will take this debate on his behalf.
I welcome the opportunity to outline to the House the limits and the extent of the responsibility of the Minister for Justice in relation to wandering animals. I will begin by defining the situation and then I will deal with the specific issues outlined by both Deputies about the problem in Enniscorthy.
The Minister for Justice has a narrow statutory function in relation to the impounding by local authorities of wandering animals. Essentially, that function relates to directing local authorities to provide pounds and to fixing the various fees which the pounds charge the owners of impounded animals. I also have responsibility for certain aspects of the general law of tort. This includes the legislative provisions in regard to civil liability for damage caused by animals.
The law in relation to wandering animals was updated in recent years by the enactment of the Animals Act, 1985. This Act covers the question of impounding in three ways. First, it gives increased powers to local authorities and the Garda to impound animals. Second, it improves the effectiveness of the impounding procedure by giving local authorities power to order the sale, disposal or destruction, where appropriate, of impounded animals. Third, it increased substantially the fines for turning animals loose or allowing them on the public road and for poundbreaking. This Act also abolished the then immunity of occupiers of land adjoining the public road in relation to damage caused by animals straying on to the road. As a result, ordinary laws of negligence now apply in such cases.
I would like to turn now to the issue raised by the Deputy about the situation in Enniscorthy. The Garda authorities told the Minister that a large number of horses owned by members of the travelling community are grazing on lands owned by the local authority and private individuals in the vicinity of the town. Because this land is unfenced, the horses are able to move on to the public roadway and trespass on private property in the area.
The Garda authorities have informed the Minister that both the local Garda and staff of the local authority have impounded horses which have wandered from this land on numerous occasions in the recent past. In fact, both hauliers from the area and outside the area have on occasion been used to transport these horses to the local pound. The Garda have also prosecuted the owners of these horses, where they have been able to establish ownership, on several occasions. The Minister also understands that the local Garda have assisted landowners and householders in the area in impounding horses and in obtaining compensation for damage caused by these horses to their property.
The Garda have been extremely active in tackling the problems of wandering horses in Enniscorthy. They have assured the Minister that they will continue to deal with this problem as best they can. However, the solution to the problem does not rest solely with the Garda. The owners of the land, including the local authority, would appear to have a responsibility to fence off their property to prevent these horses from wandering onto the public road or adjacent land. There is also the question of the council hiring hauliers at short notice to enable them to impound these animals.
The setting of pound fees is the Minister's responsibility. The 1985 Animals Act enables him to raise these by regulation. The fees have already been raised from paltry amounts to the present charge of £23 per day for the upkeep of each horse impounded. Owners of impounded horses are now required to pay a minimum of £23 when they retrieve their animals from the pound. In addition to the pound fees, the owners of impounded horses also face transportation costs when they retrieve their animals from the pound. Depending on the circumstances of the impoundment, these can be substantial.
The Minister is having the present fee structure for pounds reviewed by my Department. I assure the Deputies that their comments will be given the utmost attention by the Minister, who has promised to make an additional effort to try to deal with this problem. It is an unusual problem in that it happens to this significant degree; for that reason I accept that existing legislation is inadequate to deal with it. With the co-operation of the Garda and the local authorities, the Minister is anxious to deal more effectively with the problem.
