Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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6. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development what efforts are being made by her Department to ensure that local authorities are enforcing the legislation in relation to collecting fines under dog control regulations. [20942/24]

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to ask about the control of dogs legislation. Dogs are a regular feature in Irish life and bring considerable happiness and enjoyment to many people. Unfortunately, there are many irresponsible dog owners and they cause great problems to livestock in particular, but also in many instances to humans. Dog attacks on livestock are quite frequent but despite this some local authorities failed to issue fines over the past four years. This matter requires greater attention.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department has policy responsibility for the Control of Dogs Acts and local authorities have responsibility for all operational matters, including enforcement. The Control of Dogs Acts set out a number of legal obligations that all dog owners must comply with. I am committed to improving outcomes in dog control in Ireland and in this context, I recently increased on-the-spot fines for offences under the Control of Dogs Act, including trebling the fines for most serious offences from €100 to €300. Multiple fines can be issued where more than one offence occurs.

It is important for dog owners to be aware of their responsibilities, not just to the general public but also to their dogs. For this reason, I have just launched a major national awareness campaign to alert dog owners to their responsibilities and to raise awareness of the dangers that can be posed by uncontrolled dogs. In addition, I have established a high-level stakeholder group to consider and make recommendations to strengthen policy on these issues. I appointed John Twomey as chair of the stakeholder group, which comprises members with a broad range of expertise including academics, veterinary surgeons, local authorities, farming interests, charities working in the field and animal welfare experts. The first meeting of this group took place recently.

My Department has no role in the issuing of fixed-penalty notices but I believe dog wardens are well placed to detect and deal with offences under the Acts. To support the work of the wardens my Department is partly funding a national training programme for dog wardens to ensure consistency and a standardised approach to enforcement. This training commenced in April.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I should have added that in several instances where there are issues with irresponsible owners, the dogs themselves are the victims. The maltreatment of dogs is a significant issue.

Over the past two years, there were 240 dog attacks on livestock, 180 on other animals and 430 attacks on people across the State. Those are quite substantial numbers. Some local authorities failed to issue any fines in the last four years. I welcome the training is part of it. I do not believe we have enough dog wardens, with only one for every 3,000 dogs. I know the Minister is not responsible for the recruitment of dog wardens, but it is an issue all the same. It comes back to the point about the review. The application of the Control of Dogs Acts varies greatly from local authority to local authority. The Minister mentioned the review group chaired by John Twomey, who, I presume, is the former deputy Garda commissioner. When will that review group report back to the Minister? Will that result in changes to legislation or is it more likely to be operational?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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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.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome that and I have heard some pieces on this issue. As the Minister says, it is a very significant issue in terms of livestock and it obviously has a huge impact on livelihoods. No farmer wants to see their livestock attacked. Of course, we have also seen some very serious attacks on people, including children, in recent years. There have been some fairly horrifying attacks. As the Minister says, the ultimate responsibility lies with the owner but it does not seem to be the case that the legislation is always being applied. The Minister has outlined the stakeholder group. I welcome that. I recall John Twomey from various Oireachtas committee meetings and he seems a very capable person to be in charge of it. What is the timeline on this? Putting together a stakeholder group is grand but when are we going to see the output from it and what will be the outcome of it?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The stakeholder group has had an initial meeting and a follow-up meeting as well. The members are looking at a number of issues. I am happy to hear what their views are. It is a diverse group and I will take on board the recommendations they put forward to me.

Going back to the dog wardens, I have given more funding - an extra €2 million - to local authorities to upgrade the dog shelters and buy more dog warden vehicles and such things. Staffing of the dog wardens is for the local authorities themselves. I have spoken to the Minister, Darragh O'Brien, about more dog wardens and he is looking at providing increased staffing resources to the local authorities so they can increase the number of dog wardens on the ground.

No matter what we do, the dog warden cannot be everywhere. We have a personal responsibility to look after our dog and to know where it is at all times. The Deputy mentioned children. It was desperate what happened to that young lad in Wexford. It really was horrific. That sort of behaviour by those dog owners is wrong. They should keep their dogs under control. We need to have responsible breeding practices as well. I do not understand why people want to breed dogs that are vicious. It is not Jurassic Park here. People should not need to breed dogs just for the sole purpose of making them as vicious as possible. As I said before, these dogs are just fashion statements for criminals. This is something about which I will be asking the new stakeholder group to consider what we should do because it is something that causes a lot of upset and annoyance, especially in communities.