Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 1056: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will introduce new regulations to provide greater protection to the public and animals from dog attacks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15358/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Control of Dogs Acts 1986 and 1992 place statutory responsibility for dog control and licensing services on local authorities. The implementation of the Acts is vested in local authorities who have power to appoint dog wardens, to provide shelters for stray and other dogs, to impose on-the-spot fines for a number of offences and to take prosecutions. Local authorities may also make by-laws in relation to the control of dogs within their functional areas.

The Control of Dogs Regulations 1998, made under the above Acts, place additional controls on ten breeds of dogs. The controls, which must be observed when the dog is in a public place, require that these dogs, or types and crosses thereof, must be kept on a short lead by a person over 16 years of age who is capable of controlling them and that they are securely muzzled. Furthermore, the Control of Dogs Act 1986 gives specific powers to the courts to order that a dog, which the court considers dangerous, must be kept under proper control or be destroyed. While these arrangements provide a workable regulatory framework for enforcement by local authorities, my Department is reviewing the control measures to consider, for example, whether the micro-chipping of dogs could bring benefits to dog control.