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

I thank Senators Erin McGreehan, Micheál Carrigy, Malcolm Byrne and Aisling Dolan for bringing forward this Private Members’ Bill. As Senator McGreehan said, I am pleased to inform the House that the Government is not opposing the Bill.

While I realise this Bill does not relate directly to the situation with regard to restricted breeds, in light of the recent tragic incident in Limerick, at the outset I wish to extend my sympathy to the family and friends of Nicole Morey. My thoughts and prayers are with them at this terrible time. My thoughts are also with those who were injured and hospitalised in Cork last week following a further horrific dog attack.

Last year, following the attack on Alejandro Mizsan, a young boy in Wexford, the Government decided to take a number of actions in respect of dog control.

The owner of the dog that savagely attacked Alejandro recently got a custodial sentence.

In terms of what I have done in my Department in recent months, I have increased the fines for dogs that are not kept under proper control. Many of us here live on farms. I live on a farm. I was also reared on a farm and many times I saw the devastation caused by dogs that attacked sheep. When the Senator spoke about dogs being closed in, I was just remembering that when I was growing up, one of the last things we did at night was to close in the dog. That was something farmers always did; they closed the dogs in at night in case they did not stay on the property or maybe caused damage to other people's property. I have given €2 million to local authorities so that dog wardens have what they need in terms of vans and equipment. Responsibility for dog wardens lies with the local authorities and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is working with local authorities to increase the number of dog wardens on the ground. Many new councillors have been elected and many existing councillors have been returned to the local authorities, so the councils will be formed shortly. I ask them to consider prioritising the appointment of additional dog wardens because that is something they should certainly look at as one of their first duties. It is important that there are sufficient dog wardens. Many Senators mentioned the need to ensure we have dog wardens on the ground. I would say to the local authorities that are currently being formed that they should look at prioritising the appointment of dog wardens.

There has also been a major publicity campaign on responsible dog ownership, with advertisements on national and local media, in recent months. I do not know whether anybody heard them but there have been a good few advertisements on the radio. We have also produced a useful leaflet called Responsible Dog Ownership. If anybody would like some of these, I can make them available for their constituency offices. We are going to put them in all the libraries. We are working to put them in other public places, so that people can see what their responsibilities as a dog owner are, and how they can be supported.

I have established a working group that is pulling together all the key players, including vets, local authorities, farming representatives, including the Irish Farmers' Association, IFA - the sheep committee chairman is actually on it - and animal welfare experts to look at what further action we can take around strengthening policy and legislation on dog control. In view of how seriously I am treating this issue, I asked the former deputy Garda Commissioner, John Twomey, to chair this group. Having a former deputy Garda Commissioner in charge of that group sends out a clear message about how serious I am about strengthening our dog enforcement controls.

One of the key issues I have asked the stakeholder group to prioritise is the area of restricted breeds. Currently no dogs are banned in Ireland. Instead we have a list of 11 restricted dogs, which also includes any crosses of these breeds that are subject to strict controls. This means, when in public, these dogs must be muzzled and must be kept on a short, strong leash.

I want to talk specifically about the XL Bully. The XL Bully is a crossbreed of the American Bully. It is already covered by the restricted breeds list. We need to go further. The UK has taken steps so that since February it has been a criminal offence to own an XL Bully. The UK has taken steps which mean, since February, it has been a criminal offence to own an XL Bully. Northern Ireland is now looking at introducing similar restrictions. As someone who comes from the Border region, we should not be out of step with Northern Ireland on this. I am consulting with the Attorney General on how a ban on the XL Bully would work in Ireland and what legislative changes may be required to give effect to this. That work is under way.

I know some people will not want to hear that today. They will tell me they own an XL Bully and it would never hurt anyone, but I cannot ignore the facts. The XL Bully was the dog involved in the attack on Alejandro Mizsan in Wexford and it was also the dog involved in the attack in Limerick last week which killed Nicole Morey. We all love our dogs but no dog’s life is worth more than human life. While it is true that any dog can bite you, consider the damage an XL Bully can do compared to a Jack Russell. The history of these dogs is they were bred to be aggressive. It is in their nature. I have asked the stakeholder group to prioritise work on restricted breeds and I will meet with it later this month to hear its views.

We are also looking at other countries like Denmark and France which have implemented similar bans to see what we can learn from their experience and how it is working on the ground. The ban of the XL Bully in the UK has been the subject of a judicial review and therefore, it is important we get this right. Finally, I thank the Senators for bringing forward this Bill today and for giving me the opportunity to discuss these very important issues. I will be asking the stakeholder group to examine the Bill and consider its proposals as part of the broader package of measures we will bring forward to strengthen our dog control legislation in Ireland.