Call for ban on ‘cruel’ sulky racing on Waterford roads ‘once and for all’

A Waterford councillor has called for sulky racing to be banned on public roads “once and for all”.

Sinn Féin councillor John Hearne made the remarks at the July plenary meeting of Waterford City and County Council.

Cllr Hearne said: “Just at the Community Safety Meeting the other night, I raised this with the two Ministers and the two Chief Superintendents - sulky racing on the roads.

“They should just get it off the roads once and for all.”

He went on to highlight that the council’s Horse Bye-Laws are undergoing public consultation at present.

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“Just so the members are aware, the Horse Bye-Laws are out at the moment if they put in submissions to try and get this off the road.

“It’s cruel to run horses on the road and if you see horses in this weather being raced on the roads, it’s just the wrong thing [...].”

In response to Cllr Hearne, Director of Services Gabriel Hynes said that sulky racing is primarily a matter for the gardaí.

Mr Hynes said: “Sulky racing and the control of sulkies comes under the Road Traffic Act.

“We had some consultation with gardaí in recent weeks and they have made some suggestions.

“We may not be able to include all those in the current by-laws.”

However, he encouraged people to make submissions in relation to the Horse Bye-Laws.

“We may have to revisit it again but what I will say at the moment Cllr Hearne is ensure that people make their submissions at this point in time.

“We’ll be coming back to you with the submissions initially to the SBC and thereafter to the plenary with those by-laws for approval and we’ll see what we can include in those.

“Thereafter, we may need to revisit it again or national legislation may need to come in to deal with the sulky racing issues [...].

He concluded by saying that these issues exist not only in Waterford but throughout the country.