Mr. John Joe Fitzgerald:

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Chathaoirligh, as an seans a thabhairt dúinn teacht agus labhairt. Thank you, Chair, for giving us this opportunity. The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association welcomes the opportunity to highlight concerns farmers have about dog control and to outline clear solutions. This is an ongoing issue for our members, as detailed in a number of member surveys we have held over the last three years. In addition to these surveys, we have been inundated with calls from farmers about the risk to their livestock following attacks from dogs and the stress caused by dogs that are not controlled. We have seen increasing levels of concern and complaints from farmers about recreational walkers bringing their dogs onto farmlands, including our hills. When asked to remove them, the walkers become highly abusive and threatening, which in some instances has led to physical violence. As a result, the INHFA in Kerry has put together a petition and has submitted it to the European Parliament with the ambition of having this issue addressed and stamped out, both in Ireland and across Europe. A copy of this petition has been sent to the clerk of the committee and we understand all members have received it. The petition, which includes a book of evidence on dog attacks and farmer feedback, outlines a number of proposals that, if followed, will deliver much better outcomes in dog control and, by extension, reduce and, I hope, eliminate dog attacks on sheep and other livestock.

A summary of what we are advocating is as follows: a national database collating all information on dogs, including dog licence, microchipping and DNA samples from each dog; a Government-funded, time-limited subsidy for DNA sampling-----