DUBLIN horse owners staged a protest "trot" through the city centre yesterday afternoon in support of a demand to the Minister for Justice, Ms Owen, to end what they claim is the illegal impounding of horses in pounds outside Dublin.
The horse owners protested at Leinster House last week at new legislation on tightening controls over horses kept in urban areas.
Yesterday's protest included over 50 horses and ponies, haulage carts, trotting carriages and taxi carriages. Young people travelled bareback.
"We want open grass spaces to be put aside for the horses of Dublin," said Ms Victoria McElligott, spokeswoman for the Dublin Horse Owners Association (DHOA).
Ms Debra Dunne, of the Urban, Rural and Traveller Horse Owners Association (URATHOA), said horses kept on open spaces in Dublin were being taken during the night to pounds as far away as Ballinasloe and Baltinglass.
