Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I hope the Government will be generous in reciprocating what Deputy Mattie McGrath is proposing. This is an issue that needs to be aired.

Sulky racing is seen as a cultural activity for many. It is important we do not conflate the difference between trotting ponies and people who keep ponies for recreational use, drawing carts and sulky racing. Sulky racing revolves around horse trading, there is quite a bit of gambling involved and there are certainly animal welfare rights issues. Like in every other activity, there are some people who do it to a very high standard and, unfortunately, many others who do not.

Sulky racing, as the Minister will be aware, is conducted on public roads. I have never heard of a sulky race in my area, and I have seen plenty of them, in respect of which the Garda had been notified and a road was closed. It is often cruel to animals. It is largely done using ponies who may not be fully grown. As someone who knows a little about horses, I would not gallop ponies unshod on a road because it would be very hard on their feet and would cause lameness in animals, but I have seen it done many times in sulky racing. It is also extremely dangerous to other road users because they do not know, as has been already highlighted, whether they should overtake a sulky or not. As has been pointed out, one will often see young children sitting unstrapped and unsupervised on sulkies. They are creating a danger to themselves and to some unfortunate person who may be involved in an accident with them.

Sulky racing also encourages the keeping of animals by owners who do not have landholdings or stabling. This is prevalent throughout the country, particularly, as we know, on local authority lands. Many schemes have been mooted over the past couple of years through which stabling is being made available, especially to members of the Traveller community. This should be encouraged but it requires the allocation of sufficient lands to care properly for horses. As in the case of any landholding and the ratio of cattle to an acre, there should be a ratio of horses to land. Stabling is very important. The local authorities need to ensure there is compliance in terms of registration of ponies and, in particular, microchipping. Oftentimes, there is significant intimidation of private landowners. I have seen this for myself. Ponies are placed on land, and if the landholder threatens to take them out, he or she is threatened. That is unfair. This happens in the minority of cases, not the majority.

For sulky racing to be successful, it needs to be regulated. There are many involved in this area who would welcome some form of regulation, standards and compliance as this would allow them to carry on this activity safely as a recreation. We need a solution that respects the rights of all involved. We need to allow sulky racers to create competition because this is how those who wish to sell the horses and ponies create value for them. As outlined by Deputy Mattie McGrath, there must be opportunity for the local authorities to make lands available. There is great success in pony racing in the US and, as highlighted by Deputy McGrath, in France. There is probably a very vibrant industry here to be developed. It would be a win-win for everybody. First, we must have standards and they must be enforced. We need to look to what is being done successfully in other countries and we need to start with mutual respect. In mutual respect, everybody has to get something of what they want. There must be compromise and a win-win, but equine animal standards must be observed.

People are right to seek to have their cultural icons preserved. We do not want to do anything to disrupt that, but we want to make sure that it is done fairly and in the right way. The local authorities have a large part to play in this regard. The Garda has enough to be doing without having to regulate sulky racing on the roads. Therefore, we have to provide some amenity areas where this can be done safely.

See this speech in context