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!!

Absolute lunacy… the amount of lives that they put in danger over some stupid horse race!!!!!! What a bunch of idiots!

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…

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.

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!

Insanity, speechless

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

I wish there was subtitles in the video

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.

Poor horses

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.

It’s good to see the gardaí trying to stop it.
Very very dangerous thing to do. Lucky there was no accident at all

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.

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??

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.

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.

If there is no prosecution in this case it will prove that these people ARE outside the law.

And that in a nutshell is why these people are discriminated against. They’ve no respect for law and order

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.

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….

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.

Ya it is the Cork-Mallow road

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

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.

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.

worst bit was that the children present were being taught this lawless behaviour.

Anyone else notice the tax disk on the van of the camera man? Certainly not a republic of Ireland tax disk, typical!

The horses should have been taken of them, they should be banned then from keeping any for life!

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 !!!!!!!!!!

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.

Reckless, dangerous behavior! Have the guards gone after these people and prosecuted them?

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? ???

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

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!

I agree but unfortunately we are not allowed to say that. They have rights we have none.

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.

Why is this not in your Culture section ?

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…..

why was my comment taken down? it was’nt one bit racist

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 !!!!

You can go hot-roddin in a field, what’s their problem. A couple of quid to the farmer and the field is yours.

or were you being sarcastic… :-/

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

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.

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…

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.

Oh wait, they’ll be along soon I’m sure, accusing us of all sorts of ‘racist’ rantings.

thought not taught

WELCOME TO IRELAND…

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!

Father Ted anyone?

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”

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

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.

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.

This looks funny.

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.