Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department of Rural and Community Development has overall policy responsibility for the Control of Dogs Acts 1986 to 2014. Local Authorities have responsibility for all operational matters under the Control of Dogs Acts including licensing and enforcement. Local Authorities are well placed to target measures in their areas.

My Department publishes annual statistics in respect of a range of the dog control responsibilities of local authorities. Information up to and including 2022, including the numbers of on-the-spot fines issued, by county and in tabular form, is available on the dog control statistics page on gov.ie. (www.gov.ie/en/collection/879d4c-dog-control-statistics/ ).

The Local Authority in question have reaffirmed the figures provided previously to my Department and which are published on Gov.ie, indicating the number of fines issued in each of the years to 2022. The most recent figure available from 2022 states that 14 on-the-spot fines were issued in the Cavan area that year. My officials have requested 2023 statistics from all Local Authorities and I look forward to publishing these on Gov.ie once available.

I very much appreciate all the work of local authorities in collating and making statistics available. These statistics form the evidence base needed for better policy making and I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with them in improving national policy.