New York’s “Fighting Irish” have come out swinging.
Business owners are now solidly in their corner, latest polls show, as the city’s heavily Irish-dominated, multimillion-dollar horse carriage industry steps up its attack on its City Hall opponent.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is being bloodied as he vows to kick carriage drivers off the streets and replace the horses with lifeless electric cars.
The latest poll by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce (MCC) shows that 57 percent of its members consider the horse-drawn carriages good for business. Only 9.5 percent answered they were bad; 22 percent said it basically made no difference. The remainder of respondents either had no opinion or said the issue did not apply to them.
An earlier MCC poll found a whopping 76 percent of chamber members — many of them local business owners — welcome the buggies. And a Quinnipiac poll in January showed 61 percent of New York City voters opposed to the horse ban.
“We have tremendous public support, thank God,” carriage driver Pat Mullaney, 31, a native of Geevagh, County Sligo, in the northwest of Ireland, told The Post. “We were so surprised so many people want to keep us — and now the locals are cursing the mayor out of it.”
Business owners accuse the mayor of putting the cart before the horse.
“I have worked with horses for more than 25 years, and I don’t see any good argument for getting rid of the horses. They are in good shape, well-fed, clean and have an easy job,” Sven Oehme, president and CEO of the European-American Business Organization.
“The comments by the mayor, his deputy and the administration show that they don’t know anything about horses,” he added. “What about the police horses? Are they next in line to disappear from the streets of New York? I would not be surprised.”
Horse-drawn carriages add romance and ring up dollars for the New York tourism sector. But the economic challenges the carriage owners face are familiar to many in local tourism.
The harsh New York weather in February cut down the days many carriages operators worked to about eight.
On a good day, a carriage operator can pull in “several hundred dollars,” one operator said.
But there are the expenses, too. Veterinary fees for one horse, typically a draft animal (which cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000), typically run $400 to $600 a year — more if the horse takes sick.
The cost to keep a horse at a local stable, including grooming and feeding, can run as much as $1,300 a month.
The carriage operators have been told by the mayor’s office that they could replace their horses with vintage-style electric cars at an estimated cost of $150,000 apiece. But they dismiss the idea as a nonstarter and poor business alternative.
This world-famous New York institution traces the first paid ride back to 1859. Today, a standard ride through Central Park can cost passengers anywhere from $50 for a short trip to $90 for a longer one (gratuities accepted).
“It is seasonal. I make a comfortable living,” said Mullaney. “You make very good money at Christmastime and summer, depend[ing] on the weather. When you get your money, don’t drink it — you have to pay bills in the off-season.”
The industry employs about 300 people, including 160 active drivers and another 100 workers who care for the horses. There are about 68 medallions for horse carriages.