As the annual Ballinasloe Horse Fair got under way at the weekend, eight men appeared before a special sitting of Ballinasloe District Court yesterday afternoon charged with public order offences.
The eight, with addresses in Galway, Roscommon and Dublin, were arrested early on Sunday morning and are to appear before Birr District Court on Friday.
Meanwhile, four men were arrested on the outskirts of Ballinasloe under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and were being detained for questioning. In another fair-related incident two men were arrested and were being questioned yesterday after a house in Caltra was burgled on Saturday night.
Despite these incidents the Ballinasloe streets were thronged yesterday for the fair, a highlight in the town's year. Buying and selling at the fair did not really begin until late in the evening and there were some sales, although many people repeated the complaint of last year that business was slow.
Some sellers took their job very seriously and congregated at Ballinasloe Mart early yesterday morning to wash down their animals after the journey, plait their manes and saddle them up to improve their chance of selling them.
Some animals, however, were virtually impossible to enhance such as the ass mare and her orange foal, not pretty but with a certain individual charm. Seven hundred pounds was the asking price. A snip, said the seller, adding: "She's in foal again".
Despite the crowds which gardai estimated were greater than last year, there were no horserelated injuries reported from the fair green, according to a spokesman for Portiuncula Hospital.
Ballinasloe Horse Fair continues until Saturday when the annual foal sale takes place. And this year Tuesday's sheep fair has been revived for the first time in many years.