The sound of horseshoes on cobblestones echoed across Dublin’s Smithfield Square on Sunday as hundreds of horse owners and traders from Ireland and Britain assembled to protest against restrictions on horse fairs in the capital’s market quarter.
Generations of families, mostly men and children, gathered with their animals on the square from 10.30am, while a steady stream of horses and carts made their way up from the quays to the square.
Garda and Revenue checkpoints were set up at several locations near the square to monitor arrivals and departures, while Dublin City Council animal welfare representatives carried out checks in the surrounding streets.
Sunday’s gathering, which was monitored by a few dozen gardaí, including a couple on horseback and about 15 in riot gear, was held to protest against bylaws limiting the number of event days allowed in the square and a requirement to supply PPS [Personal Public Service] numbers when fairs take place, said Colm Kiernan, a member of the Smithfield Horse Fair Committee.
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The €10 casual trading licence, needed to take part in the fairs which are permitted twice a year, should also be scrapped, said Mr Kiernan.
“It’s the only fair in Europe you have to pay into. This is about principles; I was brought here as a kid with my grandfather and we never had to pay in. You don’t have to pay in Ballinasloe, you don’t have to pay in Appleby [Cumbria], you don’t have to pay with any fair,” he said.
“More importantly, why do they need our PPS numbers? If I give them my PPS number they come after us. You’re asked why do you have an expensive animal and you’re drawing social welfare. You can have 10 cars outside your door and no one will say anything to you but you have a pony? It’s discrimination.”
The fairs are an integral part of Smithfield’s heritage and culture, dating back decades, Mr Kiernan added. “My father, my father’s father, they came here all their life.”
Natalie Kiernan, Colm’s granddaughter, said the fair has been a part of the family’s life for generations.
“We’ve grown up around horses, it’s all in our culture. Horse owners get a bad name but there’s plenty of great horse owners around. As you can see all these horses are in great condition,” she said.
“You obviously get the odd horse in bad condition but they target us all when it’s not the case. There’s six generations of us coming to this. My oldest is nearly 19 so please God when he has his children it’ll be passed on to the next generation.”
Nearby, Brad and Jim are listening in on the conversation and nodding along. Both from Durham, England, they said they travelled to the Dublin fair to support local traders.
“We’ve been coming for years, haven’t we?” says Jim. “It’s tradition so it should be kept going.”
Bylaws introduced more than a decade ago restrict the holding of the fair to twice a year, on the first Sunday of March and September between 9.30am and 1.30pm. A horse must not be allowed to trot, canter or gallop and must be under the control of someone aged over 16. The bylaws also require anyone bringing a horse to the fair to have a casual trading licence costing €10.
The introduction of the bylaws in 2013 followed several attempts by the council to shut or relocate the fair since the 1990s when it invested considerable funds in the redevelopment of Smithfield Plaza.
Over the last decade, the twice-yearly fairs have largely progressed as planned. However, recently there have been several illegal fairs.
No public order incidents or arrests connected to the protest had been recorded by gardaí by Sunday afternoon. The city council had not responded to queries at the time of publication.
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