Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The stakeholder group is chaired by John Twomey the former deputy Garda commissioner. That shows how seriously I am taking this matter from the point of view of enforcement. The stakeholder group has a broad and diverse range of viewpoints. One member is a representative of Dogs Trust, which does excellent work. They bring important experience of what they see from an animal welfare point of view. Farming interests are also represented on the group. The Deputy mentioned livestock. It is not nice to see livestock being attacked by dogs. I expect they will talk about their experiences of livestock attacks. We have to strike a balance here. We all love our dogs but we have responsibility to the public to look after them properly. We need to keep dogs under proper control in order that they do not hurt anybody.

That is why the public campaign we have under way at the minute, which the Deputy may have heard on the radio, clearly says to people it is not their dog's fault but theirs. That is very clear. People have a responsibility to take care of their dogs and to keep them under control.

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