Council dismisses suggestions of scaled-back Ballinasloe Horse Fair

Suggestions that a scaled-back Ballinasloe October Horse Fair have been dismissed by Galway County Council, with officials confirming that it will not take place this year.

There had been suggestions that it take place on two days over the October Bank Holiday weekend and then on the following Saturday in the Fairgreen, but this is not a runner.

Senior officials told a meeting of Ballinasloe Municipal Council that a decision had been taken not to hold the event for health and safety reasons on the advice of the HSE.

Regardless of what appeared on social media, Director of Services Liam Hanrahan informed the meeting that no formal request had been made to review this decision.

The decision of the Co-ordinating Committee, he said, had been conveyed to the Gardaí. This is the second year in a row that the Fair will not take place because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Mr Hanrahan pointed out that October 20 was the next date when the Government would announce a possible relaxation of the current rules and that this would be too late to organise a horse fair.

He said that in any event, it would not be possible to run a ticketed event or control the numbers attending the fair and the last thing he wanted was “a free for all” to take place in Ballinasloe.

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