Council may say ‘neigh’ to horses on beaches

Date Published: 15-Dec-2011

By Dara Bradley

Horses will be banned from the city’s beaches if recommendations made at a meeting of the Galway City Joint Policing Committee (JPC) are implemented.

The JPC’s subcommittee on byelaws has recommended that Galway City Council consider introducing a prohibition on people bringing horses or horse-drawn vehicles onto designated bathing areas in the city.

The JPC meeting heard that there is an ongoing safety problem of horses being exercised on the city’s main beaches, and horses washed in the sea at the beaches.

The subcommittee recommended that new byelaws be introduced to prohibit horses from beaches. The JPC meeting was told that the issue is most acute at Ballyloughane beach, Renmore.

Chair of the subcommittee, City Councillor Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) said horses running on beaches were a danger to children playing in the sand. They were also a danger to swimmers when the horses were being washed in the sea.

Horse droppings on Ballyloughane strand was another problem, and Cllr O’Flaherty said she had never once seen a horse owner use a bucket and spade to clean up their animals’ soiling.

“The byelaws are needed before next Summer,” she said.

Dogs have already been banned from the city’s beaches at certain times during the Summer.

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