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Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ms Jennifer Dowler: I thank the committee for having us here today and congratulate Dr. Burgoyne on her presentation. I will talk about the history of assistance dogs. Assistance dogs originated with the guide dog after World War One. Approximately 40 years ago the broader concept of assistance dogs was developed. Assistance dogs are trained to assist people with a wide variety of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ms Lean Kennedy: In regard to Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, we estimate that it costs €38,000 for us to provide each guide dog and assistance dog partnership. The guide dog or assistance dog owner leases the dog from us at a cost of €1, the purpose of which is to ensure we have an agreement in place because the dog owner has an obligation to us to maintain the dog in terms...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ms Lean Kennedy: I will not name the four dog schools again but we are coming here today as a coalition. The Vice Chairman is right in saying that this involves different Departments. Guide dogs are mentioned in legislation like the Control of Dogs Act. This comes under the remit of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Blind and visually impaired persons who...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ms Jennifer Dowler: At Irish Dogs for the Disabled, we do not deal with autism but solely with physical disabilities. We train two types of assistance dog, namely, a stability dog for children like Olivia who has difficulties in walking and, second, a dog for wheelchair users which is required to be able to open doors, turn on and off light switches, trigger alarms and so on. Olivia would...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

...'s perspective, although I am totally new to all this. Although we were number one in Europe in 2005, we have slipped off that radar. We were the first in Europe to have an autism assistance dog programme and now, as Deputy Mitchell O'Connor highlighted, the UK has 1,000 hearing dogs while we have one in the country at present, in Dublin, which was provided by a UK charity. Ms Dowler is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Dr. Louise Burgoyne: On behalf of the Irish Assistance Dogs umbrella group, I thank the committee for inviting us to make these presentations. I will brief the committee on the current research in the sector and our work within the umbrella group. The positive effects of assistance dogs, AD, programmes have generated considerable interest and enthusiasm from care givers, service providers...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ms Jennifer Dowler: If I go onto Google, I can buy a "service dog" or "assistance dog" jacket anywhere. Anyone could buy one and put it on any kind of a dog. I could buy any kind of badge I wanted. The dogs that are probably not legitimately trained will have lots of badges on their jackets.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Dr. Louise Burgoyne: The use of assistance dogs is quite new to the research scene, but there is emerging literature which shows that they are a very valuable resource. To sum it up in one sentence, the dog acts as a bridge between the person with the disability and society. As Ms Dutton and Ms Geraghty explained, the dogs ground the person and allow him or her to function independently in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Are we talking about legislation or the Revenue Commissioners changing some of their rules? If we want assistance dogs to be exempt from dog licensing, can this be done through the Revenue Commissioners and would it be a case of no more than the current allowances for guide dog users being extended to all assistance dogs? I would think this rule is coming from the Revenue Commissioners.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ms Lean Kennedy: Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind was founded in 1976, since when it has been training guide dogs for people who are blind and vision impaired. People know that guide dogs are essential to their vision impaired owners and it is the same with the assistance dogs we provide for children with autism. We speak to families every day who tell us how the dogs have changed their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ciara Conway: Our second session today is to discuss the increasingly important role played by assistance dogs in helping a range of families across our communities and the measures needed to regulate for quality assistance dogs to play a caring, therapeutic role into the future. We are joined by representatives of the Irish Assistance Dogs umbrella group, which represents a number of organisations...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

...Ronan and Denis for their great assistance in putting together our presentation. I am here as a parent. The first thing I will point out are the enormous benefits to a family having an assistance dog. It allows the family to behave more as a family and allows a person to socialise and go to places which may have not been possible before becoming part of an assistance dog partnership....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Colm Burke: I thank the witnesses for their presentations and all the work they are doing. It might be helpful if we could get some idea of the total number of dogs, ranging from assistance dogs to dogs for the blind. What kind of numbers are we talking about? If we wanted to meet all of the targets, what numbers would we need to train every year from now on in respect of dogs for the blind and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ciara Conway: My second question was about the sale of clothing with words on it. I would be interested to hear about that. Am I right in saying that people are free to sell clothing that has "assistance dog" printed on it? Such clothing could be put on any dog? That would contaminate, for want of a better word, people who have their dogs trained to such a high standard. Is this why we are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Mr. Andrew Geary: Everyone thought an assistance dog was a guide dog. Thankfully, very high standards have always been upheld by Irish Guide Dogs. However, everyone now knows that there are rogue operators on the island, but this has happened elsewhere in the world.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ms Lean Kennedy: On the query regarding harnesses and equipment, we give all our guide dog and assistance dog owners a photo identification card which contains the Environmental Health Officer Association stamp on the back of it. We try to create awareness among businesses that if they need assurances about a dog they can ask the person for his or her identification card.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ms Jennifer Dowler: We have a few dogs in schools at present. We just talk directly to the schools and use the Equality Act to gain access. We are concentrating on our stability dog programme, primarily in secondary schools. They might go into a sixth class in primary to do preparation for first year in secondary school, when the children will be doing a lot of walking from class to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: ...and I was trying to do so before the issue arose on Joe Duffy's radio programme. I would like a member of the panel to explain how important it is for a child with autism to have an assistance dog and to talk about how the life of a family and, more importantly, the child is transformed. I do not think people understand this. I have to put up my hand and say I did not understand it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Séamus Healy: ...for their very informative presentations. A representative called to my consistency office some time ago about this matter and made me aware of the difficulties arising in that respect. Guide dogs and assistance dogs are very important for the families and individuals who require them. What sources of funding do the various organisations represented have? Is it all on a charitable...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Assistance Dogs in Ireland: Discussion (19 Nov 2015)

Ms Nuala Geraghty: Ms Dutton has covered most of the benefits assistance dogs bring to families. I can only go on the feedback I get from the people who use our services, but it is really about the very simple things we take for granted like a trip to the local shop to pick up milk and bread. These activities can be very stressful for the parents of children with autism. I recall a parent...