Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Dogs not being microchipped is a serious issue in urban and rural areas. In 2016, it became compulsory for every dog to be microchipped. Since then, it has been the responsibility of a combination of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and local authorities through the dog wardens to police this. In reality, however, nobody is checking if a dog is microchipped until that dog is taken in by a warden or shot by a farmer after it has attacked his sheep. Only at that stage can it be checked if the dog has the required microchip. It is not being policed or enforced. There is a serious spate of sheep attacks at the moment. Unfortunately, it is the same in every sector and now it affects dog owners also. A large number of dogs that are not microchipped are out there running wild.

I would say that most people here are dog lovers. A tame, quiet dog can change when it becomes part of a pack, which can happen unless they are under lock and key. The perpetrators come in a pack and a quiet, tame dog, owned by a person who has adhered to the law and microchipped it, will get out through a stone wall to run with that pack in the heat of the moment and the excitement that is involved. When the incident happens and the dogs are captured, the poor unfortunate owner of the quiet dog that was brought along is the only one identifiable and the buck then stops at that owner's door.

I am aware of housing estates in two villages near my home where people could not let their children out in their own gardens to play because dogs were rampaging in packs around housing estates. Eventually, the animals were taken in but they had no identification or microchips. It needs to be policed. It is a combination of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and local authority dog wardens. Nobody is checking if dogs are microchipped before they get themselves into bother.