People Before Profit Dublin Mid-West TD Gino Kenny has appealed for funding intervention to prevent the closure of the Clondalkin Equine Club in the next number of months.
The Equine club’s board which Deputy Kenny is a member of released a statement yesterday to announce that the club will have to close its doors in July if core funding was not identified.
The club was founded ten years ago by local horse owners and campaigners to set up a safe and educational space for young horse owners. In early 2017 a state-of-the-art equine facility which was funded by the Department of Agriculture was opened to cater for twenty horse owners near the Fonthill Road Clondalkin. Since then, the club has tried to secure long term funding independent from its present arrangement with the Department of Agriculture. This has proved impossible, and the club will have to face closure in July due to the lack of funding for a project manager/ assistant.
Deputy Kenny said*:*”I have been involved in the club for the past ten years. Throughout that time the club has evolved into what it is now a unique concept of the tradition of urban horse ownership in a safe and educational environment. It’s the only one of its kind in the state and it would be a travesty if it were to close for a small amount of funding that in the greater scheme of things is a fraction that is giving to the horse industry in Ireland. Nobody wants to see the club close as it has been a huge success but if doesn’t secure funding it will face closure almost accidentally. The club and the community are appealing for this not to happen.”