Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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792. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will instruct local authorities to record the reason for surrender at the dog pound under the Control of Dogs Act 1986; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15025/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department has policy and legislative responsibility regarding the Control of Dogs Acts 1986 to 2014. Under Section 14 of the Act, every local authority shall keep a register of all seized dogs;

Every register maintained under this section shall contain the following particulars, that is to say:

(a)a description of the dog;

(b)in the case of a dog seized by a dog warden or a member of An Garda

Síochána, the date of the seizure of the dog and particulars of the manner

in which the dog is disposed of or, as the case may be, destroyed;

(c)in the case of a dog which was detained by any other person, the date of

notification of the detention to, as the case may be, the dog warden or the

member in charge of the Garda Station concerned, the place where the

dog was found, and the place where the dog is detained.

Every register maintained under this section shall be open for inspection at all reasonable times by any

interested person. Every entry in a register maintained under this section shall be retained therein for a

period of not less than one year.

While the Local Authorities are required to record the above details, it is a matter for the Local authorities to request any additional information as they see fit.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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793. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development when the Control Of Dogs Act 1986 statistics will be recorded digitally by local authorities; and when her Department's annual dog control statistics will be available on a central digital database. [15026/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department publishes annual statistics in respect of a range of the dog control responsibilities of local authorities. Information up to and including 2021, by county and in tabular form, is available on the dog control statistics page on gov.ie. The 2022 dog control statistics are currently being collated and when checked and verified will be published on gov.ie.

My Department will scope out solutions in the coming months so that the dog control statistics provided by local authorities can be captured on a central digital database which will mean that the data is both more up to date and accessible.