Travellers group: Better policing needed at horse fair

A group representing Travellers has said the violent scenes witnessed at a horse fair in Dublin yesterday were down to a small minority of people.

Two men were shot and a third was attacked with a slash-hook during the event in Smithfield in Dublin in an incident that is understood to be linked to an ongoing feud between members of the Travelling community.

A 40-year-old man has been arrested for questioning.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Gerry Breen has called on the incoming Minister for Justice to draft new laws to ban the event.

Martin Collins of Pavee Point said all that was needed was "much better policing and much better regulation".

He agreed however that Smithfield was probably no longer suitable as a location for a horse fair, on health and safety grounds.

Last weekend, in advance of the fair, operations manger with the Dublin Society of Prevention to Cruelty to Animals Orla Aungier said: "Everything about that location is unsuitable", listing the steel street furniture, the glass-fronted buildings, the surface of the ground, the Luas line running through the area and the large numbers of people walking through it as factors against the location of the horse fair in the area.