Residents of the Liberties in Dublin say there is a serious problem with the dumping of horse manure in the area since Dublin City Council stopped taking the product at its waste facilities last year.
The Council says dumping of horse manure has increased, but they have no intention of reintroducing the service to dispose of the waste.
Horse and carriage operators in the city centre say that for the past 30 years they have been disposing of their dung in a depot at Sweeney's Terrace in the Liberties area.
However, in January of last year the council-run facility stopped taking the waste citing health and safety reasons.
Since then, the council admits that there has been an increase in dumping of horse manure in the city centre.
Sixty-eight incidents were reported in 2025 and the majority of them, 38, were reported in the Dublin 8 area.
However, they say they have no intention of reintroducing the service of disposing of the waste at any of their depots.
In a statement, Dublin City Council (DCC) said: "This service was discontinued primarily for health and safety reasons around access to and from the depot and the storage of the horse manure container within the depot. The City Council is currently not considering the reintroduction of horse manure disposal facilities at our Sweeney's Terrace cleansing depot or indeed any other facility.
"As we no longer offer any horse manure disposal service, Horse Owners are now required to make their own arrangements for the disposal of their manure by taking it to a waste disposal facility that is prepared to accept it."
Horse and carriage operators must now wait for the waste to be collected privately which is leading to piles of bags of horse manure around the area awaiting collection, while others are disposing of it themselves, a task they say is not pleasant.
Robert Humphrey, Horse & Carriage operator, says moving the manure is dirty work.
"It's just more of a hassle and a hindrance, because every time you have to go and get hay now you have to load up the manure, you have to bring it out to the farm.
"You have to manually empty the manure bags out over the trailer into the into the manure pit out there."
"Sweeney's Terrace was once a week of a Tuesday, you went down Tuesday morning before 11 o'clock, you got rid of it you weren't manky, you weren't dirty. It's just a hindrance and it's just a dirty job. It's not nice.
"If you can imagine filling the bags of manure, that's one thing, but then having to stand up and empty the black bag out, it's not nice."
However, not all horse owners are disposing of dung responsibly leading to the increase in dumping incidents.
Licensed Horse & Carriage operator David Mulreany says Dublin City Council is contributing to the problem.
"We pay for our horse licenses in Dublin City Council, and part and parcel was that we go and dump our horse manure," he said.
"Last year we went down and they said, for health and safety reasons, that we're not allowed dumping anymore. We've asked them on numerous occasions, can we have a skip outside, can we pay for a collection? We need to put it somewhere."
He added: "We are lucky to have our own little place and we use our fertiliser on our own farm. But there is lads that, after so many years being used to going to the same place, they have nowhere to go.
"So, we're asking Dublin City Council, can we please do something about it? Dublin City Council had it under control, and they just closed the gates for everybody.
"It needs to be fixed now. Dublin City Council needs to step up to the plate and fix what they broke."
Local Sinn Féin Councillor Ciarán Ó Meachair says the horse manure dumping is part of a wider issue with horse and carriages that needs to be addressed.
"You only have to take a walk up Meath Street or Francis Street or Thomas Street on any given day, and you're bound to come across it. It's definitely an issue that's been reported by residents, by local businesses, and by some of the horse carriage operators themselves.
"I've noticed it myself. You see bags of horse manure dumped in laneways just on the side of the road as well.
"It's a health and safety concern for the area and I suppose it connects back to the other issues around the horse carriages, the fact that there's no proper regulation."
"We're waiting for the Government to pass its legislation to get some proper regulation of the industry here, because it's a massive industry, and we welcome a lot of tourists to the Liberties to horse carriages. We want to see that continue, but we want to see it continue in a reasonable and in a regulated safe way."
Robert Humphrey says unless the Council acts the problem is likely to persist.
"It's up to them. The ball is in their court, but if they don't do it, you're gonna see more and more getting dumped around the streets. You have people getting on complaining to Councillors, you've tourists giving out, it's not good.
"The main tourist attraction in Dublin is the Guinness Storehouse, but when you go down and you see the manure everywhere and it's and the smell of it, do you know what I mean, the smell of it, it's not good."
