Dublin People - Horse fair may move to new Northside site

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Horse fair may move to new Northside site

Tuesday, 16 September 2008

DUBLIN City Council will shortly reveal details of the Northside site which could become the future home of Smithfield Horse Fair.
The council is currently carrying out an examination of a site believed to be in the Finglas area.
An architect’s assessment will determine if the site is suitable for the fair, which has been held in Smithfield for over 200 years, a council official confirmed at a recent council meeting.
The council is seeking to move the fair out of Smithfield in an attempt to deal with the increasing health, safety and management concerns attached to the monthly market.
However, it met a stumbling block in the form of an ancient market right of traders to hold their sales on the land.
The move to relocate the fair from its inner city site has been met with mixed reaction.
“The fair simply can’t stay in Smithfield,” said Cllr Emer Costello (Lab).
“It poses serious health and safety risks as well as immeasurable problems in terms of traffic.

“There are children as young as 10 and 11 buying horses in the inner city and then riding them home through the traffic.
“It’s not a safe location and there isn’t enough space to safely keep so many animals.”
Cllr Costello claimed that the fair, which takes place on the first Sunday of every month, is posing problems for local residents.
“The area is completely enclosed with residential housing,” she said.
“Locals feel intimidated by the level and type of activity that comes with fair day.”
However, according to Cllr Dessie Ellis (SF) a relocation of the fair to Finglas would be completely out of the question.
“The council has a neck to be trying such a thing,” he told Northside People.
“There is an implication that it will be moved to Meakstown or Scribblestown. There will be war if they push that.
“We have enough difficulties trying to police those areas and the situation would only get worse if the fair was moved out here.”
Cllr Ellis claims Finglas will suffer as a result of Smithfield residents and local representatives having an attitude of ‘not in my back yard’.
“Smithfield is now seen as chic because of its redevelopment over the years,” he said.
“It’s obvious that people feel that the area is too upmarket to have such a thing as a horse fair, even though it is a long running tradition stretching back centuries.”
Officials from the Dublin Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) attend the fair which doesn’t appear to be managed by any particular body.
It is understood that although the council cannot extinguish the market right, it can identify an alternative site for the fair and apply for a legally enforceable injunction which would prevent traders from continuing to buy and sell horses in Smithfield.

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