Dog poop hanging off trees on trail

DOG owners are hanging their dogs’ poop in bags off trees along the Queen Maeve Trail, it’s been claimed.

Councillor Sinead Maguire made the claim at last week’s meeting of Sligo Municipal District during a debate on dog-fouling raised by Councillor Chris MacManus.

“You see it hanging off trees on Knocknarea as if someone is going to come along and pick it up,” she told the meeting.

“It’s on beaches and walls too. It’s a question of awareness that no one is going to come along and pick it up,” she said.

Cllr Maguire said it wasn’t a laughing matter as she had direct experience of a little child picking up dog foul thinking it was something else.

“It’s a major health issue, it can cause blindness,” she said. “I don’t think dog owners appreciate the impact they have on other people. Signs have a minimal impact. It’s a question of education. The amount of times I’ve seen people pretending to pick up poop with bags only to drop it when they think you’re not looking,” she said.

Cllr MacManus’ motion called for more signs relating to dog-fouling to be placed between Maugheraboy Post Office and the entrance of Springhill court, to remind the public that dog-fouling is an offence.

“The problem is acute at the bridge - there are two schools in the area, Scoil Ursula and Gaelscoil Cnoc na Ré,” he said.

“People take the kids from the Gaelscoil down to the after-school club in Merville along those footpaths,” he said.

Cllr MacManus said people had to walk along narrow footpaths with buggies and young children and seeing them try to avoid the dog foul was “like watching people go through no-man’s land and the mines when you see them dancing to avoid the dog-foul.”

Councillor Seamus Kilgannon said that in the nearby Mitchell Curley Park people let their dogs run free and the owners are not there to pick up their business.

“It’s very irresponsible of the dog owners to let the dogs off the leash. Other people think there is a free for all,” he said.

Council officials said they would install enough signs along the Maugheraboy pedestrian route in an effort to curb the problem of dog-fouling in the area.

The signs will specifically outline the of- fence of ¤150 under the Litter Pollution Act.

Cllr MacManus welcomed the move: “It’s a relatively small thing but it is important to the people living in the area.”

Councillor Marie Casserly asked for the signs to be installed also from Church Hill up as far as Mitchell Curley Park. “I see families pushing buggies through it. It’s disgusting,” she told members.

“You’re dancing around it. There are people who think it’s not their responsibility. It’s all around, Strandhill Road and Tracey Avenue. I welcome any signs that would improve it,” she said.

However Senior Executive Engineer Brian Flynn said they needed to be careful “not to obliterate the town with dog-fouling signs .”

“The education side of things is where it has to start,” he said.