A petition has been launched to help pay for the legal fees of a Dublin man who spoke out as a whistle blower regarding serious instances of animal cruelty at the now closed Ashton Dog Pound in County Dublin.
Conor Williamson alerted authorities to instances of dogs being strangled, kicked, and poisoned at the South Dublin County Council (SDCC) funded facility. In doing so Williamson lost his job and says he faced backlash from those connected to the pound.
Despite an initial win at the WRC (Workplace Relations Commision) a subsequent appeal of the decision left the whistle blower with a significant legal fee outstanding.
Christine Plunkett, who is organising the GoFundMe petition on behalf of Williamson says he “paid a huge price for doing the right thing” and that his actions were “instrumental” in Ashton pound “no longer being operational”.
Plunkett also stated that any donations received above the petition’s target of €2,500 would be donated to an animal charity.
A Gript investigation highlighted instances of “horrific” cruelty which took place at the pound including hundreds of dogs being improperly euthanised with untrained and unlicensed staff being told by the vet overseeing the pound to “estimate” the amount of drugs required to put down a dog.
As previously reported by Gary Kavanagh on this platform, multiple sources, including former staff, told Gript that injured or ill dogs in Ashton Dog Pound were routinely refused access to pain relief or veterinary aid as the dogs “would be dead soon anyway.”
Other instances of cruelty included allegations that a collie dog was strangled with a belt after staff members initially attempted to poison the animal.
In 2018 a Dublin City Council dog warden, Darren Reid, made a protected disclosure to the Department of Housing, Heritage, and Local Government about goings on at the Ashton Dog Pound.
In the disclosure, which is over twenty pages long, it was alleged that employees of the pound actively harassed a member of the public who had complained about their conduct and that they had tortured the dog to death.
Last February Gript reported that the owner of the pound had avoided jail after pleading guilty to three counts of serious wrongdoing including keeping a controlled substance in an inappropriate manner at the pound.
David Stone (65) of Hazelbrook, Loughlinstown, Ratoath, Co Meath was fined Є30,000 at a sitting of Dublin Central Criminal Court before Judge Martin Nolan.