Carlow County Council is cracking down on stray horses in public green areas

Carlow County Council is cracking down on stray horses in public green areas.

The local authority passed draft bye-laws to tackle the issue at their meeting this week, which come into effect from June.

The regulations mean the Council can now seize horses found to be roaming freely in public spaces.

Cllr Fintan Phelan says this measure was desperately needed, telling KCLR News “There’s a number of areas throughout Carlow where horses are being allowed roam freely on green areas and it’s causing a major issue, particularly for people on housing estates that want to let their children out and play on the green, want to go for a walk on a green and they can’t do so because a horse is left in the middle of the green, these bye-laws will now allow the council to seize that horse”.

He explains how their draft regulations will operate, noting “The council’s policy is always to try and, if the owner is now available, to try and rehome that horse and that’s the policy of the county council in consultation with vets and professional services, and I think there is a lot of horses as well that are being neglected in many respects and this will allow for the protection and the welfare of the horses within the county of Carlow”.

Cllr Phelan adds “The bye-laws were passed unanimously by the county council, there were various different questions and there were a number of submissions into the bye-laws, these were on public display for a period of time, there was a number of submissions in from various groups and the council took account of elements of those various submissions”.