IRELAND’S HORSE welfare blackspot, Dunsink in Dublin, where many horses have been abandoned and abused over the past two years – resulting in negative publicity worldwide – is to be cleaned up in the coming months.
A project management plan for horses will be put in place starting with the provision of a temporary feeding/watering station and the monitoring of the welfare of the 60 or so animals on the site.
The plan has been jointly drawn up by Fingal County Council and the Irish Horse Welfare Trust charity.
Over the coming weeks, local horse owners are being asked to bring their animals for veterinary checks and to be microchipped and issued with passports.
“Horses that are not claimed will be taken into care by the Irish Horse Welfare Trust to be rehomed,” the charity said in a statement.
It added that the Government-established agency Horse Sport Ireland was sponsoring the passports and microchipping of all of the equines.
The plan between the trust and the county council also includes provision for an educational horse care programme for young people in the area with an interest in horses.
The long-term objective at Dunsink is to provide an area of land with some facilities for responsible horse owners to use and where education can continue. The site is yet to be decided upon.
Fingal council spokesman Ruairí Ó Dulaing said it was committed to solving the horse problems in the area while recognising the horse culture that existed there.
Dunsink received huge media attention over Christmas, and the horse welfare trust received a high volume of phone calls and e-mails from individuals abroad regarding Ireland’s equine welfare crisis.
“There are approximately 60 horses on the 160-acre site at Dunsink, which is a very unsuitable environment for horses,” said Sharon Newsome, spokeswoman for the trust. “There is limited grazing and water supplies and there are a lot of dangers for horses on the site.”