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Updated 16.51
A HAIR-RAISING video posted to YouTube shows a Garda pursuit on a Cork carriageway – but it’s a pursuit with a difference; instead of cars alone, this incident involves horses too.
(We recommend you watch this through your fingers.)
Gardaí have confirmed that a male in his late 20s was arrested following the incident on 5 May and was subsequently released.
Investigations are continuing.
Speaking on the Niall Boylan Show on Classic Hits 4FM today, the man who filmed the incident – who wants to remain anonymous – said: “Guards should let us race somewhere else. We have nowhere to race and that’s the reason the ponies are being brought out to the main roads”.
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something needs to be done about this kind of carry on, no doubt they’ll say that its a cultural thing and will show the racist card. anyone living in this society should respect the rest of society and not be a law unto themselves. some innocent person could have been killed.im sick to death of this kind of thing and people being unaccountable for their actions.
Absolutely disgraceful behaviour – the Travellers in this video have displayed utter contempt for the Gardaí and the travelling public. I would like to think that they will be charged with a raft of offences including endangering public safety, dangerous driving, resisting the Gardaí, etc., but of course, the chances are they will get off scot-free or else face a nominal fine.
And even more upsetting is the voice of the child in the van giving instructions to avoid the Gardai. The apple never falls far from the tree !
The best thing about the fact that they posted this online is that the Guards will at least be able to identify those involved, including all the cars doing illegal manoeuvres as well. Sh*** in a bucket indeed…
Also, considering the TC cars have video on board :)
Idiots! Cruelty to those little ponies. They should have been taken from the idiots, awful seeing them been raced on hard ground and straight into traffic. Why on earth didn’t the gardai close off the road further down, have 3/4 garda cars across the road and exit? Lucky nobody was killed.
It’s good to see the gardaí trying to stop it.
Very very dangerous thing to do. Lucky there was no accident at all
I’m tired of the word “culture ” being used as an excuse to break the law but the travellers or indeed any minority . As soon as you disagree you are accused of discrimination .
Where’s pavee point now? I thought by now they would have convinced us it is the department of social protections and/or anybody else that is to blame for the incident. Probably claim the Garda put the horses life on danger as well.
We commented on this yesterday.
We’re concerned that all the participants placed themselves, their animals and other road users in danger. It’s a completely unacceptable and potentially catastrophic misuse of a public road.
Pavee Point calls for anybody contemplating such activities in the future to instead think of the safety of other road users, their animals and themselves.
@ pavee point
You roll out the same old crap statements all the time, when are you going to do something about like let the authorities know before these sulky meets and bare knuckle fights take place? Are you now going to tell us that you don’t know who these people are or where the incidents will take place?
On the contrary. Pavee Point have shown us here, their concern over this matter. What they should do now, is to use their substantial resources to help identify and prosecute the perpetrators of this crime. Hence showing their commitment to engage fully with the majority & to weed out the ‘few’ who give the traveling community a bad name.
Pavee what’s the point?
Love that..where are pavee point now… oh right there you are :) As for your point Gerard, Pavee Point are a national Traveller Organisation based in Dublin. There are 36,000 Travellers in Ireland. They’re good but they’re not that good. Contrary to popular believe there are plenty of Travellers who sneeze and they don’t hear about it. The law in this situation should be applied evenly. This isn’t about “The Travellers” its about these citizens of Ireland who acted wrecklessly and dangerously and they are responsible as individuals for that. Besides finding another reason to bash Traveller organisations over the head.
@ cake con
In this case it most certainly is about the travellers because they are constantly carrying out these sulky races all over our national roads every weekend. Only difference is that this time there was some particular bright spark who recorded it all and put it on YouTube. So don’t give me this whole citizen of Ireland bullshit, they were travellers who could have seriously injured or at worst killed somebody with their activities and as you can see from all the comments there is nobody on here defending them.
Absolute lunacy… the amount of lives that they put in danger over some stupid horse race!!!!!! What a bunch of idiots!
Hey Damien there was probably up to €100k wagered on that race!
Did anyone notice toward the end of the video how drivers lined up their cars to keep the Gardai back from the racers? They all should have been arrested.
This is absolutely shameful carry-on within the Travelling community, poor coordination within the Gardai, and the ISPCA and authorities should find these ponies (and any others under the ownership of these people) and confiscate them.
The Travelling community demand respect from the settled community, but how can they get it if they don’t earn it. This stunt was a massive slip in any ground they may have gained in recent years.
This kind of thing happened a mate of mine last year driving from Limerick to Dublin. He was pulled in broken down on the hard shoulder and a sulky race came up from behind. Being broken down, the car obviously couldn’t move yet the racers still wouldn’t heed. one of the carts slammed into the car injuring the horse, the rider and writing off the poor car!! The procession of transits accompanying the race quickly gathered the pieces and made off leaving my mate alone once more with his head in his hands looking at his car. You’d have two chances swapping details with these boyos!!
LOL x 56000
I feel so sorry for the poor horses they are animals that should be appreciated not abused. Animal cruelty. They should all be charged with that to say the least.
Pity the animal cruelty legislation is so out of date in this country that even if convicted the maximum punishment is minuscule.
And that in a nutshell is why these people are discriminated against. They’ve no respect for law and order
I don’t even know what to say, the cheek of those videoing it to be giving out that the Gardai were trying to stop them. Who do they think they are that actting like they are above the law. How there wss not a crash is beond me
@ no comment : whats does your profile pic ( mask ) represent ?????
JHC!! Animal cruelty, reckless driving, public endangerment just to name a few! Its not like there aren’t perfectly usable tracks around de country side! And where are de gardai at de end? Guess its not only rich bankers and politicians above de law…
If they stopped closing down Garda stations they might have been more there. What would you have done differently ?!! A very dangerous situation someone could have been killed.
Good man two patrol cars with no more than 4 gardai! What do you want them to do in that crowd be killed?..
“And where are de gardai at de end?”
First off, please improve your grammar!
Secondly, did you watch the video at all?
Did you see the white car with the flashing blue lights? That’s the Gardaí mate!
Explain your comment, who is above the law
That was pure anarchy – very disturbing. I was watching the British police show and they literally had about 8 police men for a drunk and disorderly guy who stole a sandwich from tesco – this was like one guard car for an organised gang, what are they supposed to do.
While I abhor the bile and racist comments thrown at the travellers let me tell you this was insanity!!
I was driving the second truck to come up against them.. 42t at 55mph!!
If I’d been inexperienced it could have been carnage!
And no one charged yet all the reg’s on tape?!
If I get caught speeding it’s 2points and €80….
If it was “boy racers” then the cars would be impounded and licences revoked…
Needs to be one law for all….
Travellers aren’t a race.
How do you know that no one was charged?
Racism is a catch all term for discrimination on grounds of ethnicity, religion, colour, country of origin or cultural practices. Discrimination against Travellers is racism. Travellers are protected specifically under equality legislation. The laws relating to inciting racial hatred apply to slur on Travellers so no Travellers aren’t a “race” but they are victims of racism
Well said Brian. The Rsa are out on the road everyday hounding hauliers & truck drivers for silly stuff. I’d like Noel Brett to come & tell what will done with these incidents. In my view anyone involved in this with a car or van is guilty of dangerous driving & obstruction. Children hanging out the windows of cars no one wearing seat belts carrying children & passengers in vans. The list goes on. We want this behaviour stopped. We dont want new legislation theres plenty for prosecutions for this carry on.
It’s called an investigation. All the facts have to be gathered and the dpp will make a decision whether to charge or not. Did you ever think that the drivers of the cars and vans in the video aren’t the actual owners and the owners mightn’t have been there at all.
The animals should be taken off them everyone in is video should be prosecuted. There were also children in these cars so they should be taken off what are clearly unfit parents. This is a disgrace I am in favour of people expressing their culture but when it’s uncivilised and dangerous to others there should be a huge crackdown minority or not.
These are not only members of the travelling community but also Irish citizens and should be treated like the rest of us and be heavily punished. There are a few clear licence plates in this so i hope they catch them. As for the man on morning Ireland saying they have no were to race, then maybe they should buy land and build a place rather than demand the state hand something like this over, there is no excuse for this incident.
What really gets me is the contempt for the law they show and then they are the first to say they are treated unfairly
Ireland is turning into a joke country. In other countries you would be arrested for this disruptive behaviour. We’re I work in Dublin these carts are always on the road at 5:00 when the road is at it busiest these guys know full well how disruptive it is.
Poor horses
Unbelievable! How they didn’t manage to kill either themselves or someone unfortunate enough to be on the road at that time God only knows. These people have no respect for themselves, the horses or other members of the road going public. And what will the Guards do? Shag all probably except conduct a few tax and insurance checkpoints and hand out a few penalty points for doing 65 in 60.
What would you have done if you were a guard in that situation?
This situation went way past dangerous. I’m not trying to be critical, but I would just like to ask why the guards didn’t roadblock the road and arrest the lot of the prats. Someone could’ve been easily killed.
You think that 4 guards in 2 patrol cars would be able to block a 20 metre wide road and arrest upwards of 70-80 people?? Clever
Don’t be so facetious Gerard. I have no idea how many Garda resources were on site (maybe you know more – maybe not) – but extra resources can be deployed quickly from other areas. I am only making the point that the situation had become way out of control and extra resources were required. I equally have no idea how many extra resources could be logistically utilised in the time frame – only that more was required. If we were to take your ideology to its conclusion then hardly anyone would be arrested.
You have almost answered your own question. Since the mauretorium on recruitment, the massive retirement numbers, lack of patrol cars and station closures in rural areas, plus the fact that the authorities now have to make 5 working units out of what used to be 4 working units there are no other resources to call upon in situations line this. You can see that the video is only a few minutes long, chances are if there was any back up available it was miles and miles away and this unfortunately is reality in our country at the moment so yes, less and less people will be arrested in situations like this.
Clearly no recession among those if the cars are anything to go by. A number of licence plates are clearly visible, I trust the Gardaí will be following up and prosecuting those involved for the numerous breaches of road traffic legislation. A visit by revenue and the CAB probably wouldn’t go amiss either.
No law against Travellers having nice cars and good cars? Travellers do have jobs you know, some Travellers own businesses. Just because they are Travellers doesn’t mean they are criminals!
He never said they were travellers, he just said that since their licence plates were on show there should be no problem finding and prosecuting them.
I was just thinking this morning about a visit I made back to Dublin some years ago and I was driving a rental car around town and I made a error in making a turn in heavy traffic. I had not one but two gardai come after me and humiliated me and give me a hard time for my driving. I was unfamiliar with the signage and tried explaining it to them. All i got was a sarcastic smart assed comment from one.
I watch this video and it makes me mad that these low life’s will get away with this behavior. I live in the states and the cops here would not put up with this bull!
Only in Ireland!
no the police in the states would have shot the horses (in the legs if they were lucky) and jailed anyone filming the event.
This should be on headline news. I have no doubt that the gardai involved were under huge pressure and would have loved nothing more than to see the colleagues coming to the rescue and lock them fools up. it is plainly obvious from this video that their services are so depleted that they cannot prevent these type of incidents or the guarantee the safety of themselves and members of the public. Nobody in their right mind would have walked into that crowd. I have a feeling with gardai still retiring and not being replaced that this is only the beginning!
I agree but unfortunately we are not allowed to say that. They have rights we have none.
I’d like to have them account for the huge amounts of cash they bet on these races, but don’t worry they won’t be asked, too many soft targets out there.
Anyone else notice the tax disk on the van of the camera man? Certainly not a republic of Ireland tax disk, typical!
Sickening behaviour – all vehicles that were seen to be breaking the traffic laws should be impounded. The horses should also siezed. The organisers should see jail. Fines should be handed out. A strong message should be sent out that this will not be tolerated.
To hell with the “tradition and culture” excuse. Drink Driving was a tradition/culture not too long ago.
This is a sham! One man arrested and released after nearly killing several people on the motor way, including children. Also, what about the horses, who’s and what law is going to protect them? I’m not a garda but, I’m sure I could find some laws that would stick and be able to hold all of those involved in this crime accountable. WTH age is this imbecile that thinks he and they should take what they want if they are not granted it? I want a fecking house by the sea far away from idiots like this let me just move into one of my choice. Seriously, unless these idiots are charged and their horses and kids removed. They will continue to endanger the lives of the general public et al. Someone please grow a pair and deal with these idiots.
I just heard the ONE person was brought in for questioning and released without charge. !!!!!!!! I can count at least 18 vehicles each of which have broken umpteen rules and which the drivers should have their licences taken from for ever !!!!!!!!! Ah now is there one rule for us and one for them ?????????? Dose someone have to loose their life before the correct action is taken ???? This is really maddening me !!!!!!!!!!
Its definately not one rule for us and another rule for “them”. If there are problems it with the legislation or the investigation. In my work as a probation officer and as a Traveller Community Development Worker I have never seen preferential treatment for Travellers. My experience was the direct opposite!
You obviously have no idea how criminal and dangerous driving cases are brought about…
The horses should have been taken of them, they should be banned then from keeping any for life!
Laws are brought in for a reason Paul. They have to abide bust like the rest of us mere mortals. They show blatant disregard here. It’s nothing to do with tradition and culture, it’s just sheer acting the blaggard and using “culture” is a lame excuse. Health and safety for other road users are big issues here surely??
These people have no respect for anybody and are only interested in money and with that in mind should be treated with nothing but the full extent of the law- pavee point are useless if they were any good they would bring forward the names to the gardai but they are an organisation with there own self interests at heart-
An example should be made of these people with full publicity name and shame – to show we are not gullible pushovers
There are 36,000 Travellers in Ireland. What makes you think that Pavee Point know their names. They are in Dublin, this happened in Cork. Local Gardai I’m sure have their names, and if they are convicted of a crime then their names and convictions will be released into the public domain and to the media. I doubt news makes you happy however will it.
I wish there was subtitles in the video
They are speaking Gamin or Shelta. You can kinda get the general gist of what is going on in the car. I can’t believe these guys thought it was ok to take to the road and weave in traffic like this.
Insanity, speechless
If there is no prosecution in this case it will prove that these people ARE outside the law.
Why is this not in your Culture section ?
Ya it is the Cork-Mallow road
Yes, Cork Mallow road, and a dangerous stretch of it as well. Several people have been killed there over the years without this kind of dangerous stunt.
I taught travellers were very religious, there is noting that God would approve about this video!!ye go around making tv programmes saying how settled people don’t respect ye and how ye are discriminated against!!! is this what ye want us to respect ye for? ???
Not all settled people are racist and discriminate against Travellers. And this video is only a small group of Traveller men. I am unconvinced that all Travellers deserve contempt of the actions of a few. They shouldnt be judged as Travellers, they are citizens of Ireland to whom the same laws apply. Ethnicity and culture isn’t an issue here.
@Cake Con – these type of sulkies are on the roads all over Ireland and I have endured them holding up traffic with total disregard and no attempts to pull in. Hardly a few and if you look on YouTube you will find a whole profile dedicated to this sort of thing do it is much more widespread than you would like to admit.
worst bit was that the children present were being taught this lawless behaviour.
I just hope that the Garda view this and make many many prosecutions as they have enough evidence to do so. !! cos the next time i am caught for doing something trivial like a few miles over the limit i will be asking WHY !!!!
Though they might get off lightly with such stunts, it’s reassuring to know that the law treats them no differently than others, ensuring compliance with road law, tax law, ……….. Oops! Wait a minute…..
WELCOME TO IRELAND…
We are not an Ex-communist country Pavel. I bet your life is alot better off living in Ireland than your home country. Freedom is a good thing. Don’t be to cocky mate…………….
I appreciate ur comment about my life being better here than somewhere else but let’s not mix public safety with human rights.
Why say welcome to Ireland then?? Drink driving is a massive problem in eastern europe. Public safety………..
Oh man, if u can’t laugh at yourself, I m sorry….
Mark helping us all out there with a bit of casual racism. Nice one Mark
Pavel, I would guess this type of thing happens in many countries. All the posts I’ve seen so far have roundly condemned this behaviour. If a local said what you did, many people would laugh it off, but for a foreigner to come in and say it is a condescending insult to the country you have chosen to settle in.
Pavel helping us all out with a bit of casual racism. Nice one Pavel.
@ the usual apologists: Oh, so it’s only racist when the Irish do it?
Basically, what we are seeing here are members of the downtrodden Travelling proletariat being harassed by the fascist police. Why can’t people be allowed to go for a pleasant jaunt in the countryside without squad cars descending upon them? Before cars were invented the normal mode of transport was by horse so all these young people are doing is making a conscious decision to eschew the modern petrol guzzling society in the interests of the environment. And what do they get for such enlightened green thinking? Abuse and police harassment! They should be embraced by the Green Party and all right thinking people for highlighting in such a symbolic way that the era of Peak Oil is at hand and that before long horses will be taking over the public highways once again. And instead of our children being poisoned by petrol fumes the countryside will carry the unmistakable odour of 100% horseshit.
They can’t go for a “pleasant jaunt” because the road has a 100kph speed limit and there was a sizeable chance of killing numerous people. I’ve seen horses and cyclists on roads like that, not causing any harm in the hard shoulder, not the oncoming traffic lane. And by the looks of these comments here most people are actually annoyed that there weren’t more “fascist police” coming down on them, a Garda force that is softer than it’s masses would would like could hardly be seen as fascist.
And I’ve seen many a member of these “proletariat” be taken to their funeral in magnificent horse-drawn carriages with numerous Hummer limos in tow, which also puts a hole in your theory that they are a society consciously snubbing motorised transport. Oh, that and 20-30 numerous vans and cars driving behind them for miles. This race had the carbon footprint of a one car return trip from Galway to Dublin.
And finally, I don’t think it would be uninformed of me to assert that a lot of travellers are involved in the sale of tyres and car parts, as a sub-culture I think they are very much pro-car.
@Brendan
I think Dave was being sarcastic
Reckless, dangerous behavior! Have the guards gone after these people and prosecuted them?
You can go hot-roddin in a field, what’s their problem. A couple of quid to the farmer and the field is yours.
Why is this mindless, dangerous, acutely antisocial behaviour being given the oxygen of publicity? Does it not serve to glorify morons like these? The footage should be left to fester on YouTube
Gingerman, I tried to comment when this was originally posted yesterday but was unable to. I then sent an email to the journalist but haven’t received a reply. My question was the same as yours, why was the journal not only showing a video displaying such irresponsible actions but why was it made out to be an amusing and entertaining video? While the people responsible are free to risk their own lives, risking that of innocent motorists and of animals is a different matter
Giving videos like these publicity on a website is not the same as giving them publicity. The Journal is just providing news. You could make the “glorification” argument for any news about crime. Fortunately, most of the comments here seem to show that people are disgusted by such disregard for the law. But they could just have easily thought this law-breaking was great – and that’s something you can’t control in a free society. You can give people information but you can’t control how they react to it.
Sorry, I meant to write “giving videos like these publicity on a website is not the same as glorifying them”.
why was my comment taken down? it was’nt one bit racist
This looks funny.
It wouldn’t be so funny if it caused a pile up on the road and people killed would it.
As an aside, I’m surprised to see that someone who claims to be a journalist doesn’t know the difference between pony’s and ponies.
We have nowhere to race and that’s the reason the pony’s are being brought out to the main roads”
Pavee Point commented on this yesterday, actually.
We’re concerned that all the participants placed themselves, their animals and other road users in danger. It’s a completely unacceptable and potentially catastrophic misuse of a public road.
Pavee Point calls for anybody contemplating such activities in the future to instead think of the safety of other road users, their animals and themselves.
Its not anybody Pavee Point – its travellers.
Do boy racers not indulge in similar reckless behavior on our roads?
Last time I checked most of them were settled..
@pavee point
Do you also agree it was illegal, would you not call on everyone involved to hand themselves into the Guards,
Your comment about thinking before doing this again smacks of someone saying be more careful and don’t get caught or post the video on the Internet
No doubt you will be advising all those involved to turn themselves in and for anyone who knows anyone involved to go to their local Garda station with this information.
What makes yis think that Pavee Point actually know these people. This was a race in Cork. Pavee Point are based in Dublin. They don’t work in the community in Cork. And yes popcorn the incident involved some Travellers, it isnt or wasn’t all Travellers. I can’t take responsibility or be punished for a punch up in an Irish Bar in Santa Ponza anymore that Pavee Point deserve any Flac for this incident in Cork. They men are citizens for Ireland and governed by the same rules. End of.
They do indeed Gearoid, but they don’t go about shouting about “Racism” and “Culture” when they are hauled before the courts.
Pavee Point claim to be a representative group for the travellers of Ireland. Nobody is suggesting they take responsability for the travellers in the video. I suggest only that they condem the behaviour as illegal and advise those involved or with knowledge to cooperate with Gardaí investigating.
Despite the recklessness (or maybe because of it), what a an example of their wild and unconquerable spirit – if only it could be channeled in different ways. It’s of tremendous anthropological value though
Yeah, cavemen in the 21st century…
you lot should hear yourselves, sound like a bunch of babuskas at a wedding, and ye are all so smug, our country is in deep shit, and this is all you can talk about, i would,nt like to live next door to you people, if i broke wind a book would be written.
thought not taught
Oh wait, they’ll be along soon I’m sure, accusing us of all sorts of ‘racist’ rantings.
Yeah political correctness has gone too far, you can’t even be racist anymore without someone accusing you of being a racist! …Talk about discrimination!!
Father Ted anyone?
I never said it was, I was referring to some of the blatantly racist comments that were posted on here which have since been removed, and the subsequent comments defending them and complaining about PC. Thankfully most of the comments on here have been fair, and justified in their criticism of the behavior in the video which is inexcusable.
However, to say that the actions of the few in this video is wholly representative of traveller culture is ludicrous. Also, comparing an entire ethnic minority to “cavemen”, as you did in a previous comment, is racist.
I’m shocked by some of the bigotry here… well, not really.
or were you being sarcastic… :-/
Yes, but you made my point very eloquently. My post has since been removed.
Erm… is there ghostly goings on in the journal application today?? Comment here, but not on the browser version??! Comments all over the place on the browser version :-/
I can still see your comment on the android app… but it’s not the browser version??! neither is my original comment!
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