A MULTI-agency group to deal with the problem of abandoned horses will be set up shortly, a Dáil committee which yesterday heard reports of incidents from across the State, was told.
TDs and Senators told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture of personal sightings or reports they have had of abandoned horses.
Donal Creed, Fine Gael’s agriculture spokesman, said he had come across animals on the road that had been turned loose and abandoned after Cahirmee Fair in Cork.
Bobby Aylward (FF) said horses were “being given away” at Goresbridge Sales and there was now a three-month waiting list to have a horse slaughtered in a Kilkenny knackery.
Andrew Doyle (FG) said a lot of horses and ponies will have to be culled because of over-production and he complained the Animal Welfare Bill which was due to be published had not yet been brought forward.
Former minister for agriculture Joe Walsh, who is chairman of Horse Sport Ireland, (HSI) said it had met the current Minister Brendan Smith, yesterday to discuss the welfare problem.
“Breeders are finding it difficult to make a return on poor quality stock and we do have a problem at present with over-production” he said. “Indeed we would have a concern about the huge number of horses currently in the country, which, when taken into account with the current economic downturn, could pose huge challenges as the winter approaches,” he said.
He said the problem was compounded because so many agencies were involved in the issue; the Garda, local authorities, animal welfare groups and the Departments of Agriculture and the Environment.
He said that a multi-agency group was being established to deal with the growing problem.