I sincerely thank Deputy Quinlivan for raising this most important matter on the floor of the Dáil. Given that it is most important, the people of Limerick will rightly be grateful to him. I know about the matter at first hand because I have family members living in the city and am there a lot. What is going on is a disgrace. The Deputy is so correct to have done what he has done here today. While he has highlighted that what I would call blackguarding of the worst type is going on, he has also recognised that there are responsible horse owners. There are people who adore their horses and who want to mind and cherish them. The horses are like family members. The Deputy made a very clear distinction in that there are people who do not know the first thing about horses or animal welfare. What is going on is disgraceful. I apologise on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Martin Heydon, who could not be here but who is also very anxious about this issue because of the simple fact that addressing it is so important. Neglecting or causing unnecessary suffering to an animal is totally unacceptable in our society. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is fully committed to the ongoing promotion and enforcement of high animal welfare standards. The Department continues to enforce the law in this important area and works very closely with An Garda Síochána, the customs service, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, introduced by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, brought all farmed and companion animals, including leisure, sport and working animals, under a single legislative framework. The Act provides a modern framework for applying standards in the area of animal health and welfare. Since the Act of 2013 came into operation, in March 2014, 181 individuals have been successfully prosecuted, but that is not half enough. There have to be more prosecutions. This horrible practice has to be stopped. The programme for Government is very strong on this. It provides a commitment to prioritise equine welfare and build on existing inspectors' reports throughout the country, ensuring a consistent approach to dealing with horse welfare. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine takes the matter of animal welfare most seriously and responds to any reports of alleged animal cruelty or legislative non-compliance. Under the Control of Horses Act 1996, local authorities may take a range of actions on equines, including the prohibition of horses in certain areas, the issuing of licences and the seizure of horses that are in contravention of the Act. These powers can be used in respect of straying horses, which includes horses put on land without the owner's permission, including public land. Local authorities may also prosecute offenders. The Department of agriculture provides funding to local authorities as a contribution towards the costs incurred by them in operating the Control of Horses Act 1996. The number of unwanted horses being seized by local authorities reached a peak in 2014 and has declined significantly since then. All legislation in the Department of agriculture is kept under constant review, including the Control of Horses Act 1996, which is currently under review. Plans for replacement legislation are advancing. The aim of this replacement legislation is to simplify and clarify procedures in the Act in respect of the seizure and disposal of horses. The Department of agriculture undertook a stakeholders' consultation in 2023 on the control of horses legislation, with submissions sought by November 2023. Four submissions were received, which will feed into the legislative process.

Sentiment score: 0.06

From 2015 to date, the Department has spent more than €2 million on urban horse projects. Last year, €6 million in funding went to 101 animal welfare charities throughout the country under the animal welfare grant programme. Of that figure, just over €3.4 million was awarded to charities involved in the care and welfare of horses. On a personal level, I will say that the Deputy has done a great service to the people of Limerick in raising this. It is not just today that he has done so. He has been in continuous contact with the Department about this matter on behalf of his constituents. He is a very strong person on this. I recognise that, as does the Minister, Deputy Heydon. We should do everything we can collectively to put our shoulders to the wheel to try to stop this horrible practice. When I was a young person starting out, every day my day's work involved working with a horse by the name of Billy, so the Deputy will appreciate how I feel about this very important matter. I see some of the absolute horrific cruelty that horses have to endure. The Deputy is correct in what he said. It is upsetting for everybody, especially young people, to see animals being mistreated in this way. It is horrible beyond belief. The Minister and the Department will do everything they can. As can be seen from the statistics, enough funding is going through. The charitable organisations are doing their work, but at the end of the day it is very hard to legislate for other people's behaviour. This whole acceptance by certain people that they can do whatever they like because it is only an animal is what we have to get away from. A horse is to be treated in the kindest possible way. Horses are beautiful animals and to see this happening on our streets and in our urban areas, or any area, is totally wrong. The Deputy is doing a great service for the people by raising this most important matter. I thank him for doing so in a sound, solid way.

Sentiment score: 0.13

It is not only today that Deputy Cooney has brought this matter to the attention of the Dáil because he has been working diligently on the issue. The Deputy has worn a path to Agriculture House and has been on to me and my officials. I recognise that and his sterling work on behalf of his constituents. This is an important matter. It is also of grave concern to our colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, who has also been making representations about this matter. As Deputy Cooney correctly stated, the existing legislation and corridors have failed, which is simply not good enough. Last week, the Ministers, Deputies Heydon and Darragh O'Brien, and I met senior people from the ESB to discuss the corridors that are in place and what needs to be created in the future to ensure that situations such as we had will not occur again. It will involve, we imagine, changing legislation. Everybody believes the ESB has far-reaching legislative powers to go into land and do what is required to protect the power lines but it does not. New legislation potentially needs to be brought in. It would, of course, go through the Houses of the Oireachtas swiftly as everybody would support it because it would be for the betterment of the people of the country. The incoming Government showed great foresight in the programme for Government, before we ever had this storm, in recognising that the protection of power lines and telecommunication lines was of massive importance. The Government's commitment to protecting those lines is in the programme for Government. We have seen the devastation caused in the Deputy's constituency and throughout the country, with people left in awful situations and people with sick children and elderly people left without heat and without light in their homes. It was an awful situation. Deputy Cooney is correct to raise this issue. All I can tell him is that we are working on it. We will continue to work with all the stakeholders to address the issues we now face, including those in relation to forestry and power lines. At the centre of these considerations are the wider good and the need to take into account the needs of those landowners who have committed to forestry and will do so in the future. I want to make it clear that people who already have a clear-fell or thinning licence along with a road licence can commence their clean-up operations straightaway. Across the country, these clean-up operations are already under way and the sector is doing all it can to meet the massive task we face. When we were meeting the ESB last Wednesday evening, up to 50 harvesters were out working and contracted by the ESB to engage in that work. They are working along the existing corridors. What we have to do, and it is in the programme for Government, is to enhance those corridors, which will obviously lead to a situation where forest owners or landowners may have to be compensated for the encroachment on their land. As I stated, however, this will be for the greater good and to try to safeguard the security of energy to people's homes. At the end of the day, that is of paramount importance. It was also highlighted to the ESB that the practice of trimming branches near power lines along the roadside is not good enough because they will grow again. We have to be more aggressive in our approach in ensuring that we protect the power lines.

Sentiment score: 0.10

I thank Deputy Cooney. I like it when the Deputy says it is time for less talk and more work. To show the Deputy what work is going on, this is a matter that I am dealing with at the forest windblow task force, which met again yesterday morning. Subsequent to the meeting I and the Ministers, Deputies Heydon and O'Brien, had with the ESB last week, officials from the Department are exploring what we need to do to get on to the next phase, that is, the necessary legislation that might be required to allow this work go on. The Deputy will appreciate that while work will have to be done, you cannot go on to a person's land where there is, for example, a corridor created already and a wayleave may have been agreed with the forest owner 20 years ago. The landowner might have been compensated for that at a certain width. If we are to come along now to that landowner and say that it must be a greater width, we must have legislative powers. Second, we cannot go to a person with our hands hanging. We have to be able to say we want to create a bigger wayleave. The Deputy, on behalf of his constituents, will say the landowner will have to be compensated. We cannot go into a person's land willy-nilly and say we will do this because landowners have to be respected. The Deputy is right to raise the fact that it is the duty of the Government to protect power lines and the energy going into people's homes. In the programme for Government, people were thinking ahead. That never happened previously. It is a recognition of the fact that our storms are becoming stronger and having an effect on the energy that goes into people’s homes. At the same time, the Government has been telling people to rely more on the ESB. The more they rely on the ESB, however, the more they need it. We have a duty in this regard. Deputy Cooney is doing great work. It is not his first time raising this matter since the storm. He has been over and back to Agriculture House regularly to discuss it. I want the people of Clare to know that.

Sentiment score: 0.23