As reports emerge of another horse dying from exhaustion on the roadside due to sulky racing near Clonmel, it appears that traffic signs in Waterford City are being turned around to create illegal diversions and facilitate similar, regular sulky races.
This claim emerged during the April meeting of Waterford Metropolitan District Council, when Cllr Jim Griffin joined a discussion on sulky racing.
As previously reported by The Munster Express, Cllr John Hearne had asked the council to write to the Minster for Agriculture to request a ban on sulky racing, as such a ban falls outside the remit of local authorities and must be implemented at a national level.
It was noted at the April Metropolitan meeting that a reply had been received from Minister Martin Heydon’s office which advised of the relevant legislation. At first, Waterford Councillors took issue with the response, before it emerged that there may have been some confusion around the wording of the request.
“For the minister or her assistant to come back and say here’s the legislation, that’s nobody’s news,” said Cllr Joe Kelly. “What we wanted was change so this sulky racing and animal cruelty can be banned. That’s what we are actually looking for.”
Cllr Kelly went on to suggest that this cruelty was part of a wider problem.
“You have fox hunting where dogs are chasing after foxes and tearing them to bits, it’s considered a sport, but it’s barbaric in my opinion.
“But the sulky stuff is just as bad in my view. We had the situation in Dublin only a number of weeks ago, when a pregnant horse was run into the ground and the poor thing died on the street while it was being kicked, only for, I think, motorists intervened.
“Some of the stuff that goes on in this country to animals is just outrageous and barbaric,” Cllr. Kelly added.
Signs turned
Cllr Jim Griffin explained that he had visited a constituent on the Airport Road, who had been taking it on themselves to fix the signs on the roundabout after a recent sulky race.
“Lads come out here, he [the constituent] said, and they shut down this road like they did last week, early in the morning. They alter the arrows so people coming in who might not know the location, they get all confused,” Cllr. Griffin said.
“Our engineer, and myself and the resident saw the arrows altered,” said Cllr Griffin. “They went to the bother of loosening the Tek screws at the back to alter the arrows so you have three or four different directions on the roundabout.
“We made further enquiries and that person was able to tell us then that the Ballindud one is also done on a regular basis. As you all know the Ballindud roundabout is after having some serious accidents,” he pointed out.
“The resident was able to clearly tell us that on the Saturday night or on the Friday night before the racing, they go up with their van and their tools and they change the arrow on the roundabout so that anyone coming into the vicinity will not know, it will look like there is a diversion or that way only. That is done regularly on that road.
“What we are always looking for first off was to stop the animal cruelty,” said Cllr Hearne in relation to the Council’s letter to the Minister of Agriculture. “That they wouldn’t be so cruel to tear the horse into the ground.
“We have plenty of great horse stables in the areas, get the young lads into that … the most important thing is that the cruelty stops. It’s a legitimate business in America and it is big business, if they done it right it could be big business here.
“Just get it into the racecourses, we have loads of racecourses doing nothing all year” continued Cllr Hearne. “Get them in there where the vets are there, everything is regulated, there’s safe procedures, everything is in hand, and if a fella falls off, he can mind himself.
“They have changed the laws now around scooters and scramblers, and rightly so because people are dying. But you can put a two or three year old on the back of a horse and cart and bate down the road, and there’s nothing about it.”
A council representative said that sulky racing is not something that they permit but is also not something that consent is sought for. The regulation of roads remains the remit of the national government, meaning a ban would need to come from Dublin.
Metropolitan Mayor Adam Wyse suggested that Cllr Hearne, as the original proposer, should submit an exact request of what he’s seeking, which can then be signed by other councillors who seem keen to lend their support.
AARON KENT
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
