“The disturbance that these goats are causing in the locality is totally unacceptable”.

It's been claimed that a herd of raucous wild goats roaming free on the western outskirts of Ennis "are procreating like there is no tomorrow", disturbing locals in the process. Fine Gael member of Clare County Council, Mary Howard, alerted other councillors to this fact at the April meeting of the Ennis Municipal District on Tuesday, claiming that there is “huge frustration” amongst people in Ennis over the animals. She suggests that castrating the male goats in the herd should be considered, claiming that “people don’t want to see them put down.” According to the Irish Examiner, Councillor Howard said that two of the kid goats who were spotted roaming free around the residential Kilrush Road area of Ennis were recently electrocuted at a local ESB sub-station while a third goat was recently adopted. Cllr Howard said that a home needs to be found for the animals as to avoid any other mishaps. “We need to address where their natural home is. People don’t want them culled but they want the herd reduced if that can happen," she said. The Mayor of Clare, Tom McNamara, told the District that “the disturbance that these goats are causing in the locality is totally unacceptable”. He said that the goats “are getting up on top of cars and going around businesses at night time”. Councillor Pat Daly, a staunch Fianna Fáil supporter, also quipped that Fine Gael councillor, Johnny Flynn is now being called ‘Goat’ Flynn because of his work on the issue. The topic of the goats and their presence in the area arose when Councillor Howard called on the Council to erect signs on surrounding roads warning motorists of the possible safety issues. In response to this, Senior Executive Engineer, Eamon O’Dea confirmed that the Council is endeavouring to contact animal sanctuaries and welfare organisations to arrange the capture and removal of the wild goats from the area. He assures that Clare County Council aim to deal with the situation humanely.