Mr. John Condon:

At the moment, it varies from local authority to local authority. Some local authorities have a number of full-time vets and might have their own pounds and premises to be able to do it. Other local authorities, such as ours, do not have to impound many horses in a year. In the past year, for example, Mayo County Council had to deal with between five and ten horses. We work with the horse charities and make contributions to them, and when we need their services, they will take the animals to a safe place and ultimately arrange for them to be rehomed, where, we hope, they will no longer be stray or cause problems for people.

Ten or 15 years ago, we were dealing with between 200 and 300 horses a year, and that was following the downturn when people just abandoned large numbers of horses. We used to get funding from the Department of agriculture that helped cover our costs, but as the number of horses increased, as it did over three or four years, the Department gradually cut the sum it was prepared to recoup to us, which meant it was eating further and further into our resources. The problem has abated considerably, but we are anxious that with whatever amendments are made to the legislation, if the local authorities have to spend money on this, they need to have a budget for it because it can be expensive. By working with the voluntary sector, we are often able to get these things done in a cost-efficient way without breaking the bank.