Horses are being “left to rot and die in city estates” because it is easier to buy another for €20 or €30 than to care for them, the Dáil has been told.
Sinn Féin Limerick TD Maurice Quinlivan spoke of seeing more than 50 horses on public land and in the gardens of vacant council-owned properties within a 90-minute period as he highlighted the worsening crisis of abandoned and mistreated horses.
“We are now approaching foaling season and this will only get worse. In some cases the authorities have been met with threats of violence when attempting to seize abused animals,” Mr Quinlivan said.
“This is not fair or proportionate, but it is what happens when the law is not applied year after year, and the result of the Department [of Agriculture] not doing its job properly.”
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Mr Quinlivan called for better enforcement of animal welfare laws and more support for animal welfare groups.
Instead of going to the vet, owners abandon the horses because it is cheaper to buy a new horse, available for €20 or €30, Mr Quinlivan said, adding that authorities are failing to enforce the law on microchipping horses.
Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig O’Sullivan also highlighted the issue in Glanmire, Co Cork, where an equine carcass was left to rot for several days.
“We have reams after reams of animal welfare legislation but no enforcement,” Mr O’Sullivan said. He called for the implementation of legislation he drafted for the appointment of an equine officer to every local authority.
That would provide a “dedicated person who can deal with it and none of this faffing around and trying to shovel responsibility on to other agencies”.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said his proposal “makes absolute sense” and he would raise it with the Minister for Agriculture and local authorities because “the agencies need to get stronger and be more effective”.
Mr Quinlivan said that “since Christmas, a number of horses have been abandoned and left to die and rot in city estates”.
“This has a terrible impact. It is a heartbreaking sight for anyone, especially children, to see outside their own front door,” he said.
Other horses are often left in a distressed or abandoned state, Mr Quinlivan said, pointing out that at least 1,431 wandering or stray horses have been collected in Limerick city since 2015.
“Unfortunately, most seized before 2019 ended up being euthanised. Horses collected since then have been rehomed by horse welfare charities, putting huge pressure on them,” Mr Quinlivan told the Dáil.
But he said “if the horses were wandering around Montenotte in Cork, Foxrock in Dublin or the North Circular Road in my city, Limerick, I suspect there would have been a different response”.
Minister of State for Agriculture Michael Healy-Rae told him that “what is going on is a disgrace”. The Department of Agriculture “takes the matter of animal welfare most seriously and responds to any reports of alleged animal cruelty or legislative noncompliance”.
Mr Healy-Rae said that since 2015 the department has spent more than €2 million on urban horse projects. Last year, €6 million in funding went to 101 animal welfare charities and more than €3.4 million of that figure was awarded to horse welfare charities, he said.
Mr Healy-Rae said “enough funding is going through”, and the charitable organisations are doing their work. “But at the end of the day it is very hard to legislate for other people’s behaviour,” he said. “This whole acceptance by certain people that they can do whatever they like because it is only an animal is what we have to get away from.”
