Ms Martina Kenny:

We have many gardaí on board with My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue. Some of our volunteers are gardaí. We work with the mounted unit gardaí around Dublin city and Kilkenny, and an awful lot of them want this as well. We would see three to four gardaí literally dedicated to animal crime, which they will be so busy with because there is so much of it going on. However, the main issue is that there are not enough gardaí who will prosecute. Therefore, these dedicated gardaí could help those gardaí prosecute and teach them the legislation. They can be there at the courts and do different things. They are also gardaí that other people and the likes of us can talk to rather than ringing around different stations trying to get the garda who has the want for it and has the time to deal with it. We all know our gardaí are out-the-door busy. Ireland is a crazy place sometimes. We really do need a structure where we have a certain number of gardaí who are just dedicated to animal welfare. It is needed. As I said, we have been to other countries that have done it, and it is a huge success. I just do not see why Ireland cannot do it.