DEPUTIES on a sides urged that the Control of Horses Bill be backed up with resources and effectively implemented.

The Bill, which passed its second stage, allows local authorities to designate areas where horses can only be kept under licence. It also provides for the introduction of an identification system for horses and increases penalties for neglect and cruelty to £10,000.

Ms Roisin Shortall (Lab, Dublin West) said the entire Dublin area should be covered by the Bill.

People in working class areas, where a tradition of keeping horses had grown up, should continue to have access to horses but only under proper conditions. The Bill should be "really driven" by local authorities which must be given the resources to employ wardens to implement it.

Mr Brendan Smith (FE, Cavan Monaghan) said appalling cruelty had been caused to horses which were left without food or drink and the problem was not confined to Dublin. This was quite intolerable and the resources to implement the Bill must be provided.

The Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, said the problem of wandering horses had been a terrible one for urban communities and serious injury had been suffered by children, property had been damaged and the quality of life of people in these areas suffered. Now local authorities would have to license people annually to keep their horses in urban areas and these horses would have to be identified and kept under control. Owners would be liable for damage and injury.

Many horses were kept in gardens, tiny sheds and even houses. "It could be said that these were the lucky ones. Many more were left to roam freely, uncared for, and without adequate food and water. Small wonder then that they eventually became a problem that nobody was willing to address. Let us hope that this Bill spells the beginning of the end to such needless cruelty."

He commended the work of the animal welfare bodies, such as the DSPCA, in pioneering the Bill and he deplored the threats of violence and intimidation against individual members of that body.

"The word should go out from here that such actions will not be tolerated. The matter is made even more serious by the fact that organisations like the DSPCA have been forced to `step into the gap because the State has failed in the past to take action when it should in relation to problems like wandering horses.

Mr Noel Ahern (FE, Dublin North West) said the Bill would be meaningless unless resources were provided to implement it.

The Bill was referred to a Dail committee.