OFTEN some of the key pillars of the state - politicians, the Gardaí, the legal profession, the judicial system - come in for sustained criticism. It’s only fair therefore where a satisfactory outcome is forthcoming to a case to give credit to all the work such legal matters involve.

Relentless work by the Gardaí, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Waterford SPCA in one of the more notorious cases of equine cruelty - and one with a very long history of previous convictions behind it - finally resulted in a jail sentence and lifetime horse ban on Kilkenny defendant Simon O’Dwyer Snr this week (see news piece on page 89).

The four-year sentence, reduced on age and health-related compassionate grounds, and a lifetime ban handed down in this truly terrible case are to be welcomed. We are all involved in safeguarding the reputation of our beloved sport horse industry. There never was a place in our industry for this sort of thing but certainly not in today’s world.

In recent years, appropriate legislation has been considerably beefed up and the agencies of the State are better equipped to deal with such breaches of the law. With the amount of accessible education and online free advice out there, there is absolutely zero excuse for any form of animal cruelty in today’s Ireland, let alone equine cruelty cases from anyone, particularly landowners.

If you genuinely suspect equine cruelty, don’t sit on the fence. Contact the ISPCA, the Gardaí, or DAFM’s helpline.