Councillors pass motion calling for more regulation after a number of incidents in city
Dublin city councillors recently passed an emergency motion calling for the regulation of horse and carriage operators in the capital after several incidents of horse welfare concerns, dangerous driving, injuries and anti-social behaviour.
Mr Mulreany (39), who is a traditional operator at Mulreany’s Carriages, said he is concerned about the safety of the people and animals involved.
“It was totally different when I started back when I was 16,” he told the Irish Independent.
“Dublin’s carriage office, the same place that used to pass the taxis, were the ones that passed us out. Your carriage got inspected, your horse was seen by a vet, there was a background check, everything was done.
“We needed a licence as well for your horse, carriage, and driver. You had to always display your badge too. Now there’s none of that whatsoever.
“DCC have no authority to inspect your horse or carriage now, so they weren’t going to issue any more licences. It was more or less a free for all.
“There’s more competition now, it’s open across the board, we just don’t know who half of the lads are anymore. Before there was 16 licences issued. Dublin City Council and the gardaí knew exactly who was driving the carriages. Today, we don’t know ourselves,” he added.
David loves his job, but with a lack of regulation and an increase in people riding horses around the city, he does it for pleasure now rather than income.
“It was very hard to take for the simple reason that it was how we put bread on the table. It’s different now because it’s so hard to actually make any money whatsoever,” he added.
“Now it’s more a pleasure than anything else to keep the horses.
“We don’t mind everybody having a go at this, once they do it correctly. The people are looked after, tourists are looked after, the horses are minded, and we know who’s driving these things.
Mr Mulreany is a traditional operator at Mulreany’s Carriages
“I left school to drive a horse and carriage for the simple reason there was no money in our area at the time. It turned out that it was the only thing I knew how to do.
“We have set routes around Dublin city, and you can travel for half an hour, an hour, the whole day. Dublin has so many hidden gems. We’d take you along Georgian Dublin, along the Grand Canal, the old Georgian houses, Merrion Square and so on. Then you’d go by the brewery or Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and things like that.
“We go where the buses don’t go, especially around the Liberties. We’re Liberties lads. It’s a proper bit of history. We learn something new every single day. It’s the best part of Dublin.
“It’s amazing. It’s just one of the best jobs in the world when it’s done right and proper,” he added.
Fianna Fail councillor Deirdre Heney is the chair of DCC’s Animal Welfare Oversight Committee. She proposed the emergency motion as she believes the current state of the industry is “an accident waiting to happen”.
“We have no power to regulate the driver of a horse drawn carriage, so anyone from 16 and up, once they have an equine ID, which is nothing to do with safety,” she said.
“You can just get it from the Department of Agriculture for a horse. We’ve no way of regulating what behaviour or what happens in the city in terms of people riding a horse.
“A horse collapsed in Christchurch recently due to exhaustion and it went viral. This gave us the opportunity to put this as an emergency motion in DCC and put pressure on the Minister [for Transport] to reintroduce our horse and carriage regulations in the city.
“The Minister needs to bring forward legislation to amend this. It’s a health and safety issue to the young drivers, members of the public who use the carriages and the welfare of the animal, some are working to exhaustion.”
