Council cracks the whip over horses in estates

Galway City Council has seized seven horses being kept in one of its own boarded-up houses.

In an early morning raid, a company contracted by the local authority rounded up the horses from the house in Ballybane and transported them to a pound in Kilkenny.

The houses will likely be put down in the facility or may be re-housed, revealed Cllr Terry O’Flaherty, who has complained about this house being used as an impromptu stable for some time.

The roundup is an expensive course of action for the council to take. She said it costs the city up to €1,000 per horse to send them to a pound.

She believed some of the horses had been used for sulky racing. The issue remains a problem on the east side of the city despite the big roundup. And this week, she received an email about a horse being tied up for some time in Ballybane without access to water in the recent heatwave.

“With over 4,000 applicants on the housing waiting list, it beggars belief that one of the City Council’s houses is allowed to be used by certain individuals that are local authority tenants and are known to the council for keeping their horses in a three bedroom detached bungalow . . . it’s nothing short of a disgrace,” she fumed.

“While I am aware the City Council have been seizing horses over the years and the difficulties they encounter, the Council now needs to follow up on these seizures with a get-tough policy in relation to the implementation of the tenancy agreement and the eviction of tenants who keep horses on their properties.

“People should no longer be expected to tolerate horses roaming in city housing estates,” Cllr O’Flaherty said.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.