Council has spent over €25,000 so far this year on the control of horses in the county

Tipperary County Council has confirmed that over €25,000 has already been spent this year so far, on the control of horses in the county.

Cllr Liam Browne raised the issue of horse welfare at the recent Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District meeting for May.

Cllr Browne said his query was driven by the recent video circulating online about the abuse of horses in Clonmel.

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"Do we have a horse warden, similar to dog wardens? And who is the person who takes charge of enforcing the control of horse bylaws. What responsibility does the council have to enforce those bylaws?" Cllr Browne asked the meeting.

Fergal Condon from the Environment section of Tipperary County Council responded to this query and informed the meeting that the council does not employ a horse warden.

“We deal with the control of horses in public places. We first get phone calls to the complaints section, we then follow up with the districts and try to locate the horses.

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"If they are there we arrange for the horse to be taken to a horse pound in North Cork. It’s quite expensive, so far this year we’ve spent in the region of €25,000 on it across the county. So far we’ve claimed back €4,000 from the department.”

The council stressed that they only deal with horses in public places and cannot deal with horse welfare issues or horses on private lands.