RACEHORSE trainers were among the attendance of over 100 people at a public meeting in Bettystown, Co Meath on Thursday night to discuss the Bettystown-Mornington Beach Plan, which proposes to ban horses from using the beach.

The plan, which also proposes to ban cars, sulky racing and dogs without a leash from the beach, was adopted at a meeting at Laytown and Bettystown Municipal District Council on February 14th by a majority of five to one.

Laytown Races will not be affcted by the plan, which now goes forward to Meath County Council for approval.

Dublin trainer Damian English regularly uses the beach and was at Thursday’s meeting. He said: “It was a good meeting with plenty of racing people, hunting people and others who have horses. I left with the impression that the situation wasn’t as serious as it seemed and that there may be a solution.

“I think the main issue is horses walking along this boardwalk area. They are more relaxed about the area of the beach we [trainers] use.”

TOURISM

Fine Gael councillor Paddy Meade was the only one of six local councillors to vote against the plan.

He told The Irish Field: “The main thing I took from the meeting is that the locals see the horses on the beach as having tourism appeal. There was also the economic factor – like the lads who work for Damien English spending in local shops.”

He said that locals could not understand why, if Laytown Races remains unaffected, horses should be banned from the beach on other days.

It is understood that the proposed ban stems from an accident involving a sulky and a car on the beach recently. The horse got loose and caused serious damage to a vehicle parked close to an entrance.

PC GONE MAD

Meade said: “The person responsible for this incident wouldn’t be a regular. Now it could lead to a full-scale ban on all horses. It’s PC gone mad. Accidents happen and it’s like me crashing my car and then banning all cars from the road.”

Looking ahead, Meade added: “I’ll be putting a motion to Meath County Council to remove the rulings on horses using the beach from the plan. I’ve already had calls from councillors in the Ratoath and Trim areas who said they would support this and I’d hope to get a lot more councillors behind this idea. I’d urge anyone who feels strongly about this to talk to their local councillor.”