Sir, The much anticipated and long awaited Control of Horses Bill, published recently, is a disappointingly narrow piece of legislation and must be seen as a missed opportunity to address some wider issues in relation to horses in Ireland.
The Bill's entire rem it is the control of urban horses and even here it fails to address a fundamental cause of the problem, that of over breeding. Prevention being more effective than cure the Bill should have looked at ways of discouraging the breeding of horses rather than simply looking at ways to control those horses which have already been, born.
I would like to propose a new title for the Bill The Control and Protection of Horses Bill. While the 1911 Protection of Animals Act is the proper legislative tool for the protection of animals, there was nonetheless an opportunity in the formulation of this current Bill to embrace the need for the horses' protection from society and not simply the other way round.
The published Bill fails to look beyond the straying urban horse to the much wider use of horses in society, particularly for entertainment. What happens, for instance, many of the racing horses whose racing career is over, or those thoroughbreds who were never fast enough to run in competitive races in the first place? What happens the hundreds of show horses whose career is finished? What happens the thousands of horses whose "employment" in riding schools across the country is terminated?
At the moment, many of these horses are traded on the streets of Dublin and in countrywide markets and fairs and end up alone and neglected in fields across the country before their final journey to the horse abattoir in Straffan. Others endure an overland or sea journey to the continent, where they are slaughtered for human consumption and for pet food.
A more immediate concern is the imminent arrival of dry, hot weather and the inevitable lack of water in Dublin for the couple of thousand horses wandering in suburban areas. What is the solution?
I propose that a large water carrying vehicle be introduced to travel to any part of the city where reports have been received of horses in distress from lack of drinking water. Garda protection for the vehicle and the driver should be provided. Perhaps local politicians could allow their clinics to be used as public information outlets any member of the public could contact a clinic when they see a horse in trouble. In this way, politicians would be seen to be contributing in a very practical way to alleviating what will other wise be a summer of `96 filled with distress stories of starving and thirsty horses. Yours, etc., Environment Spokesperson, Green Party, Upper Fownes Street, Dublin 2.