Sulky driver training course to be rolled out in bid to reduce animal cruelty

A training course for 'Sulky' drivers is being rolled out in a bid to reduce animal cruelty.

It follows an increase in the number of collisions on public roads and the death of a 12-year-old boy in Dublin.

The Department of Agriculture will begin courses this month which will be run by a team of veterinary surgeons and nurses.

Founder of the Animal Rights Action Network, John Carmody, hopes it will make the situation safer.

He said: "Animal rights campaigners would of course prefer if we got these horses off the roads and a ban was to be implemented but that is not going to happen.

"There has been too many cases of cruelty and there has been too many cases of horses dying on our roads for us to no longer turn our back on this issue.

"We can only hope that we won't see anymore cruelty or anymore suffering of these horses but we won't hold our breath on that one."

- Digital Desk