I join others in sympathising with the family of Grace Lynch. It is an unbelievable tragedy. It is right that the Taoiseach has moved quickly to close out some of the legislation. Well done. I will be glad to read about what that will entail today. Those same legal principles need to be extended to urban ponies and horses. We must be one of the only countries in the world that has strict laws when it comes to horse control but implementation and enforcement are not that high. A lot of children have been injured in the past year by being kicked by horses on green areas. For those who wish to own a horse, they should own or lease land or pay for a livery. The idea of having horses tethered to metal poles outside shops and, in some cases, living inside houses is absolutely absurd. We need to get a lot tougher on this. The same principles are probably interchangeable in this regard. If people want to own a horse, they must be responsible. No one has a God-given right to own an animal, tie it up wherever they want and let it do whatever damage it wants. We need to get equally tough with urban ponies and horses as we are now getting with scramblers.

Sentiment score: 0.04