Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is good that we are having this debate about animal welfare and, in particular, equine welfare. There is no getting away from the fact that equine welfare in Ireland has a patchy history, to say the least. I always come from the standpoint that the vast majority of horse owners are responsible with their animals. There is an element of irresponsibility which is borne out in sulky racing on roads, which nobody can defend. It is reckless and dangerous not only for the people on the sulkies but also the horses and other road users. Sulky racing is a reckless activity for those who engage in it. Most of the time, there are vast amounts of money involved in the practice as well.

Coming from an urban environment, there were a lot of horses in the area where I grew up. There was an issue around the stabling of horses and so on but that has been addressed over time. There is a long tradition of horse ownership in an urban environment. It has been a positive experience in terms of the responsibility attached to owning a horse. In the past three or four years, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has allocated a lot of money to a project in Clondalkin known as the Clondalkin Equine Club, which is the only club of its kind in Ireland. It provides young people with a place to stable a horse in an urban environment. It is a controlled, educational and responsible environment. This is a good way of supporting horse ownership in rural and urban environments.

On the Bill, when we ban something, we drive it underground. That is what this Bill will do. A ban on sulking racing will have the opposite effect. There are regulations and laws in place which provide for prosecution of illegal activities. It is obvious that sulky racing is illegal. Harness racing is a responsible sport in Ireland. There is a really good track in Portmarnock where harness racing takes place responsibly. It is regulated and it is a really good sport to be involved in and to observe. It is important not to conflate the activities of people who are responsible with those who are very irresponsible and will do as we see in online videos where they are racing horses recklessly on dual carriageways.

That will lead to an accident sooner or later.

It would be very difficult to support this Bill. Deputy Mattie McGrath's sentiment relates to animal welfare. I understand that but this will have the opposite effect by driving sulky racing underground where it will be even more dangerous than it is now. Regulation, education and engaging with sulky owners is the way to do it. There are parallels between this issue and the scramblers with which we have a big problem in urban environments. Laws alone will not solve this issue. There are laws in place but we need more regulation and control and to tell people that this is a very dangerous pastime for national roads, which could lead to people dying. On that basis, it would be very difficult for People Before Profit to support this Bill.

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