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Photos of Dublin's native traditional horse culture. On the first Sunday of every month the traditional Smithfield horse fair is held. The fair is a place where urban and rural horse lovers meet informally as they have done for centuries. Currently Dublin City Council are doing everything possible to put an end to the fair. Legally the fair cannot be expunged and the council have been advised of this. Despite this advice officials have resorted to tactics designed to put as much pressure as possible on participants in an effort to discourage attendance and ultimately kill off the Smithfield Horse Fair. The politicians and bureaucrats who drive this policy are demonstrating their usual short-sighed inability to see the potential of the horse fair. Since the fair does not have an equivalent in Anglo-American culture it's seen as being something native which is undesirable despite the fact it could, properly regulated and promoted, become a major tourist attraction. It's no surprise that the building of Dublin City Council offices on Wood Quay buried forever one of the best examples of a Viking settlement in Europe. Their work continues.