The Dealer received a call from a person involved in the horse welfare lobby who was critical of Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney’s response to the problem of unwanted horses.

“The Minister doesn’t seem to understand the potential for reputational damage, or if he does, he doesn’t want to do anything about it,” they said.

“There’s progress behind the scenes, but the Minister needs to buy into the situation too. He has to realise that to make the system better, a certain amount of horses have to be taken out,” they added.