Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

It is the responsibility of local authorities in this area. We play a supervisory role, and we are talking to local authorities about how we can financially support them. Obviously, we have spoken to local authorities about trying to get this legislation right. My understanding is that there is an obligation on a local authority to collect and look after horses if they have been abandoned. When that happens, they get taken to a holding unit of stables, which I think is in the midlands. The obligation on Galway City Council or Galway County Council would be to look after the horse for a minimum five-day period, which is what we support them for financially. That agreement is not necessarily laid down in law. We have an agreement with local authorities on what is reasonable in looking after those horses, but I think there is an obligation during that period to make a judgment call on the horse. Some of those horses will be kept for a lot longer than five days. If we have a horse that is clearly suitable for rehoming, there is an onus on us to do that. If we have a horse that is sick, very old and is unlikely to be rehomed, then I think we can make the responsible decision on destroying that animal. People have to use their cop-on as well, but the basis of the relationship between Galway city and county councils at the moment is that we fund them to keep the horses for a five-day period on average. Some of the horses may be very unwell or have an injury that requires them to be put down within hours, but I understand our benchmark is five days.