Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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1578. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide an update on the Working Group set up to look at the Control of Dogs Act 1986 in relation to protection of sheep and lambs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13544/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I am very conscious that sheep worrying is a serious issue that can have a devastating impact on the farming community. Some 2.5 million lambs will be born on farms all over Ireland this springtime and these flocks are very vulnerable to dog attacks at this critical time, and especially during the night.

Against the background of a number of recent well publicised dog attacks on children and on livestock, I and the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, have established a working group on the control of dogs.

The terms of reference of the group are published at gov.ie - Working Group on Control of Dogs (www.gov.ie).

The Group is composed of officials from my Department, the Department of Rural and Community Development, representatives of the County and City Managers Association, including representatives of local authority dog wardens and veterinary inspectors, and representatives of An Garda Síochána.

This group has now held six meetings and will continue to meet regularly in the coming weeks.

The working group has examined issues related to dog control and made recommendations for actions to address this problem including ones specifically on sheep worrying. Minister Humphreys and I have considered this report and I will be bringing a Memorandum to Government shortly on these recommendations.

The Deputy may be aware that the Department of Rural and Community Development are the lead department in relation to control of dogs. A public consultation was carried out by that Department on the subject of dog control in 2021. The results have been published on the DRCD website. The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has also outlined its policy concerns on the subject of dog control and sheep worrying.

.By law, every dog must be microchipped and the possession, movement, sale or supply of an unchipped dog is an offence. Additionally, owners of dogs must also have a licence for their animals. I am committed to working with Minister Humphreys to improve enforcement of the laws applicable to dogs.

On a general welfare point, I would advise anyone concerned about incidents of animal neglect or cruelty that they can contact my Department's animal welfare helpline by phone or the dedicated animal welfare email address: Call Save - 0761 064408, phone - 01 607 2379. Email address - animalwelfare@agriculture.gov.ie.