Irish plagued with cavalry of wild horses
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.By June extensive new powers will enable councils across the Irish Republic to crack the whip against urban cavalries of loose horses that terrify motorists by crashing through windscreens or charging into toddlers at play.
The measures, being examined by local authorities in the North-east of England, include compulsory licensing and registration and microchip tagging.
Owners will be charged for impounded horses and wandering ponies seized a number of times may be sold or put down. A key change will be banning children under 16 from buying or owning horses.
Though city horses evoke images of devil-may-care adolescents and quirky scenes of pie-bald nags grazing on front lawns such as seen in The Commitments and the children's film adventure Into the West,, the reality is often less comical.
Today "loose horses" warnings on main Dublin roads are a regular feature on traffic bulletins. The city's horse population has been estimated at close to 5,000.
The need for the new laws was driven by public anger at a series of horrific incidents in recent years. Several road accidents were caused by collisions, often at night, involving unattended animals.
Thursday saw the latest in a series of frightening accidents caused by ponies running into toddlers when a child suffered serious injuries after being dragged for 20 yards by a horse in Clondalkin in south-west Dublin.
Previous incidents have seen toddlers being kicked in the face.
The new laws were passed by the Dail in the New Year and will be enacted in the coming weeks. They will apply to urban centres rather than rural areas, so stud farms and working farm horses will not be affected.
Despite the clampdown, some claim benefits in city children learning about horses and in Dublin, experiments with stables in working-class areas have offered an alternative to the chaos of wandering ponies.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments