Pat Casey (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last week I received an email from Ruby Lily Doyle, aged ten, from Avoca. Like many of us, Ruby Lily and her family have taken to walking the beautiful village of Avoca in Wicklow, which is known to people as "Ballykissangel" from the television series. In her email she states that what has horrified her has been the level of dog fouling that has taken place on the walks. In fairness to her, she has now started her own local campaign in Avoca called Clean It Up and she has a lovely little poster that she goes around Avoca with. She has also written to the local authority to ask it to raise awareness about dog fouling. We are all aware of the issue and I am not too sure which is the greater offence. Is it the dog fouling or the people who make an attempt to pick up the dog fouling, put it into a plastic bag, tie it to a tree or nestle it neatly between the roots of a tree on the ground and leave it there? What is more, and I shall be graphic, people put it into a plastic bag, throw it in a hedge and then a Tidy Towns' worker, private resident or council worker comes along in a few months' time with a strimmer to strim the grass and bursts open the plastic bag.

Ruby Lily has asked that we conduct an awareness campaign. Each local authority has had an awareness campaign, tried to erect signs and provided litter bins.Yesterday, there was an announcement of millions of euro for walking and cycling routes. I believe we must invest in a national public campaign on dog fouling and support this campaign to make these walks more enjoyable and safer for everybody and, indeed, for the volunteers and council workers who are maintaining these routes. Perhaps the Leader would convey to the appropriate Department that we should spend some money on a national campaign of awareness about the impact dog fouling is having on the environment.