It is now time to ‘get serious’ about dog fouling in district
COUNCILLORS have called foul on what they see as the growing problem of dog litter during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Cllr Mary Farrell said that the issue of dog fouling was particularly noticeable on beaches and was told that beach cleans by council staff would not be taking place until June at the earliest.
‘The beaches need to be cleaned now, I don’t think there is any reason to wait until June to do that and waiting another three weeks for the beach clean up is just too long,’ said Cllr Farrell.
‘It relates back to dog fouling, people are not being responsible. All I can say is that Kilmuckridge was like a bank holiday weekend – as the car parks are closed people are just parking anywhere and everywhere, on the sides of ditches and roads, and it’s creating major problems. Don’t know how we address it but people are still just not listening. Compliance might be high in other areas but it’s not in relation to beaches and scenic areas,’ she said.
Cllr Farrell was told that a publicity campaign on dog fouling would be taking place around the county, but for now there had been some social media posts about the issue.
Cllr Joe Sullivan said that Tara Hill is destroyed with dog fouling, whether it be council land, privately owned land or Coillte land.
‘It’s just something that people are not getting. They think that their dog is the only dog in the world and that everyone should be admiring their dog, while he’s making a complete mess of the country side at the same time. If you’re taking your dog out in a public area, behave like you’d behave yourself,’ he said.
He then suggested an education campaign, but Cllr Anthony Donohoe suggested something a bit different.
‘If anybody is serious about dog fouling, we have to have a way of tracing them. Every dog that’s born has to be micro-chipped. You can take a DNA sample of the dog and set up a database, it’s the same with calves. If the same was done with dogs, a specimen can be taken of the stool and linked back to the database which links back to the owner and sends out a fine in the post. It’s just a suggestion and I’m not a scientist but it could be brought up to the Department. There are reckless owners out there and this would trace things back to them’.
Cllr Farrell agreed and said that the only way to educate people is to hit them in their pockets and really take the issue seriously.
Cllr Fionntán O Súilleabháin said that this theory would be ‘totally impossible and unworkable’ and described Cllr Donohoe’s suggestion as ‘sci-fi 25th century stuff ’.
Cllr Oliver Walsh asked about installing poo bins and bag dispensers in every village.
The environment spokesperson said that, from her experience, this does not solve the problem and sometimes even creates more of a problem as people dump the bags.
‘We have tried to focus on dog fouling in the last couple of years, but can try again once things start to re-open to create public awareness,’ she said.
Responding to Cllr Farrell’s query on beach cleanups, the spokesperson said that government guidelines were needed for the safety of employees.
‘We will have the beach cleaning machine going out before the June opening date around the weekend of June 13 but recruitment has started and the employment of lifeguards and beach patrol staff is hoped for early June. We have been monitoring car parks, but we will check those areas for problems mentioned’.
Cllr Willie Kavanagh asked about a traffic plan for when Curracloe reopens and was told that a traffic plan is being formulated for all beaches.
Cllr Oliver Walsh said that beach access is an issue at Ballyconnigar and he asked whether the temporary bridge could be extended up over the rocks.
‘I would like to see that going ahead before the June bank holiday weekend. If anyone wants to meet me out there and social distance and have a look at it and I’ll explain what needs to be done further,’ he said.
He was told that the bridge should be ready for that time.