This article first appeared on Galway Bay FM

One of the most popular traditional events in Connemara has been cancelled due to state procedures.

The committee organising the Omey Races was caught unaware of changes to the permit procedures governing such events.

The Horse Races on Omey Strand have a tradition going back over sixty years in Connemara.

This year’s event was scheduled for August 2nd, next Saturday, but is now cancelled.

The committee went through all the usual safety and regulatory procedures and applied for a permit from the Department of the Marine.

But there was a bureaucratic fly in the ointment; unknown and unannounced to the Omey Races committee, the power to issue a permit had moved over to a new body, known by its shorthand title – MARA.

MARA is the newly established Marine Area Regulatory Authority with a remit in all our territorial waters and also, now unbeknownst locally, on Omey Strand.

The Omey Races committee was told by MARA that an engineer’s report about the location is necessary alongside a new application.

The committee says it is too late and the races are off until next year.