Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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It has been an interesting discussion. Everyone is singing off the same hymn sheet. We know where the problems are and what some of the potential solutions are. One of the big solutions is that owners need to be more responsible.

On trusting education to make owners more responsible, I remember an ad on television years ago where a dog went out worrying sheep. We do not see those ads any more. That is just one thing. Some responsibility needs to be put on dog owners so that, before they can own a dog, they have to have a fair knowledge of the responsibility attached to it and know that, if they drop the ball, there are consequences for them as the owners.

That is ultimately what needs to happen.

I asked whether there are enough dog wardens. We clearly need more of them. We need to improve legislation. We need to do a whole range of things. Right now we need to follow up with the Department and the local authorities. We need to talk to them to ensure we can get progress on all of this. That is really all I need to say.