"Horses are all we have to keep us out of trouble", according to 13-year-old Tricia Dorman, from Ballymun. She was quoted in an article in this newspaper dealing with the impact which the new Control of Horses Act will have on children in deprived parts of Dublin who have developed a passionate love of the animals in recent years. The estimated 3,000 horses in the Dublin region do pose a substantial threat to safety and property in many areas, but there is a danger that the new Act will be used in a repressive fashion to stamp out the hobby, thereby alienating these youngsters.
The Department of Agriculture has allocated some two million pounds to implement the Act with most of it going to Dublin to build the pounds which will hold unlicensed animals. According to the regulations, horses must be licensed for a fee of £25, have a microchip ear tag and proper stabling facilities. Since many youngsters will not be able to afford these measures, they will undoubtedly see the Act as repressive. As Tricia Dorman put it "the Government needs to give us a chance to show that we know how to look after horses. They don't know what the horses do to people around here".
The same point was made by Mr Joe Higgins, TD, in a letter to this newspaper. He suggests a constructive alternative approach which could build on the young peoples' extraordinary commitment and also address the concerns of safety, damage to property and animal welfare. They include horse clubs in communities; provision of resources for land, shelter, fodder and veterinary care; mandatory educational facilities in horse care; and an associated disciplinary code. This requires resources - but is that not what government is for? And would it not be a longer-term saving, better than the possibly disastrous social consequences of a policy of simple repression? There are already some precedents from voluntary and civic organisations. In April it was announced that a youth development centre is to be built in Clondalkin where youngsters can stable and care for their horses on a 11.2 acre site donated by Dublin Corporation. The brainchild of the Cherry Orchard Link Project and the Ballyfermot Partnership, it has the backing of FAS and the Racing Club of Ireland and will cost £2.1 million to build. Another initiative has been taken by a group of parents in Ballymun who took over a burnt-out building and converted it into make-shift stables. These are exemplary initiatives which deserve public and private support. Why not back them up with scholarship schemes into the horse industry, which does, after all, employ some 20,000 people directly and many more indirectly in this country? The story of the urban horse craze has justifiably attracted a lot of international attention. It is time legislators and administrators responded more imaginatively to it, rather than simply concentrating on removing a public nuisance and substituting grandiose architectural projects for the Smithfield Horse Fair.