A “lack of enforcement” from authorities is being blamed for a number of dog attacks on sheep over the Christmas period, leaving flocks “vulnerable”.
That’s according to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), which claimed that various state agencies with responsibility on the issues “continue to sit on their hands on the matter”.
The association said that it has, in the past year, met with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue and Minister of State for heritage Malcolm Noonan with the aim of having “meaningful measures” put in place to protect sheep farmers from the “irresponsible behaviour of some dog owners”.
The IFA said that its ‘No Dogs Allowed’ campaign, which it started last year, will continue “until action is taken by government to address this persistent problem”.
According to Sean Dennehy, the IFA’s sheep chairperson, the number of actual dog attacks on sheep is under reported, due to what he calls “the lack of action from authorities”.
“There are very few sheep farmers in the country who have not had the horrendous experience of finding their flock savaged by dogs, yet official figures recorded only 241 such incidents in 2020,” he said.
Dennehy added: “It’s not acceptable to farmers – who provide full traceability for seven million cattle and three million breeding sheep where every animal is individually tagged and traceable to the person responsible for them – that a similar system is not in place for dog owners.
“There’s an estimated 800,000 dogs in the country, with only 207,866 licences issued in 2020. This leaves almost 600,000 without identification, or association to a responsible keeper.”
Local authorities are responsible for the control of dogs under the Control of Dogs Act 1986. However, the IFA claims that “it is clear” that even the existing obligations on dog owners are not being enforced, with only 82 prosecutions being initiated in 2020 and only 198 dogs seized.
“There is an urgent need to strengthen the legislation, include appropriate sanctions and develop a single national database identifying dogs and their owners, similar to that in other jurisdictions,” Dennehy argued.
Specifically, the IFA is seeking: a national database for all dogs in the country that identifies owners; appropriate sanctions for those found in non-compliance of microchipping; appropriate sanctions for those who fail to have their dog under control at all times and for those whose dogs are identified attacking livestock; and more resources to enforce compliance with dog owner obligations.