Six four-legged members of the Garda Siochana will make their entrance into public life today when the first Mounted Unit is unveiled to the media.
The six geldings, bought as a job lot for £30,000 from North Yorkshire police, have been kept in the seclusion of the Curragh, Co Kildare, since they arrived in March. The Garda press office has fended off requests for pictures, saying the animals needed time to settle into their surroundings.
The horses are to be stabled in Aras an Uachtarain from next month, according to a Garda spokesman. They will make their first patrol from Kevin Street Garda Station in central Dublin up Grafton Street on May 19th.
The unit will consist of eight gardai - one sergeant and seven garda rank including two women gardai - under the control of Superintendent Aidan Reid, who is also responsible for the Garda Air Support unit.
The horses' pictures are to be broadcast on RTE's children's programme The Den tomorrow in a competition to give the six "suitable Irish names", the Garda spokesman said.
The horses: Linton (aged 17), Cayton (17), Staxton (9), Dacre (5), Jervux (7), and Marrick (7), were originally named after areas of North Yorkshire. i have defended the age profile, of the unit saying the experienced horses would be needed to train younger animals.
The mounted gardai will wear the tradition navy Garda tunic, knee-length boots, navy jodhpurs, black gloves and a riding hat with the Garda crest, and carry a long baton.
Two North Yorkshire police will give the members of the unit two weeks training.
The horses will patrol the area between Grafton Street and Parnell Square on a routine basis, and will also be available for searches, traffic and crowd control.
On the delicate question of dung, the spokesman said Dublin Corporation street cleaners would be informed when horses are on patrol or in use at large events. The cleaners would be alerted by a bleep system, the spokesman said, which would tell them when there were horses in the area. "We'll tell them where it happened," he said, adding that the gardai were aware of the penalties under the Roads Act of a £1,000 or six months for soiling of streets.
