A NUMBER of jarveys in Killarney have brought a High Court action over being refused entry to a section of Killarney National Park after their refusal to attach dung-catchers to their carriages.
Mr Justice Frank Clarke yesterday granted leave to a group of more than 25 jarveys to bring a judicial review challenge to the National Parks and Wildlife Service’s (NPWS) decision requiring them to attach the dung collectors.
Pending that hearing, the jarveys will apply today for an injunction restraining the parks service barring access to Killarney National Park and compelling it to remove bollards installed on Tuesday last.
In the judicial review proceedings, the jarveys are contending the NPWS does not have power to require them to have dung catchers attached to their horses and is also not entitled to refuse them access to the park. They also claim the dung-catcher requirement is discriminatory.
In an affidavit, jarvey Patrick O’Sullivan, Ardshanvooley, Killarney, said it was discovered last Tuesday that the height of bollards in the middle of gateways had been raised, meaning jarveys could not enter the scenic section of the national park, official known as Bourn Vincent Memorial Park, along routes used by them when carrying tourists.
This would have a devastating effect on their ability to earn a living and the loss of such income in the current economic climate was “a severe blow”.
Mr O’Sullivan said jarveys were greatly angered by the action of the NPWS and were also greatly afraid. A jarvey ride was an integral part of the Killarney tourist product and the NPWS action was “dramatic and draconian”.
The dung-catcher was not required to be used by horse traffic in any other part of the country, he said. However, the NPWS had from 2007 begun to push for the jarveys to use the dung-catchers and it had in 2008 refused to renew any permits unless the jarveys signed up to using dung-catchers.
Mr O’Sullivan said the jarveys’ expert veterinary and insurance advice was that the dung-catchers posed a risk to the safety and security of their customers due to their effect on the horses.
He said the dung-catchers rendered a horse’s tail defenceless against fly attacks. Horses could as a result become touchy and irritable and a cranky horse could become disobedient and, at extremes, dangerous.
Mr O’Sullivan also said individual horse riders who used the park for recreational purposes did not use dung-collectors and had not been barred from using the park. He said those horses produced as much “organic waste” as the jarvey horses.