The head of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said that Ireland should debate whether or not to follow the UK in restricting or outright banning certain particularly aggressive dog breeds.
Two years ago, the IFA launched its “No Dogs Allowed” campaign, amid a growing trend of uncontrolled dogs off the lead attacking and frightening the livestock of Irish farmers.
“There has been a significant increase in attacks in recent months, and the message simply isn’t getting through,” said IFA national sheep chairman Sean Dennehy at the time of the campaign’s launch back in 2021.
“We also have reports of farmers encountering verbal abuse and intimidation when they remind dog owners of their responsibilities and the dangers of letting their pets off the leash.”
Speaking to Gript on Wednesday this week about the ongoing campaign, group President Tim Cullinan said the matter was still a “major issue.”
“Each year coming up to the lambing season, we re-launch this campaign around ‘No Dogs Allowed,’ because as we all know [about] dogs not on the lead, and the damage they can do to ewes if they’re lambing and to the young lambs as well,” he said.
“We’ve had a number of serious incidents this year again in Ireland, where there was dog attacks on lambs, and in some cases anything up to 30 or 40 lambs destroyed by dogs in a number of farms up and down the country.”
Cullinan urged the government to ensure that “every dog” in Ireland is microchipped so that they can be traced back to an owner, adding: “The owner has to be responsible here as well.”
“I don’t think it’s good enough that dogs are allowed roam in the countryside and be able to do this damage,” he said.
“So we need a proper trace of it. It’s one thing to have a microchip – they [also] need to be on a database as well to be traced back to the owner, and that the owner is liable for the damage that that dog will do.”
Cullinan described a particular alleged incident in Hilltown, Co. Wicklow earlier this year, in which a number of individuals reportedly took two dogs up a hill without leads.
“When they were confronted by the landowner, that landowner was assaulted,” Cullinan said.
“That’s just not good enough. It’s not something we as an organisation, I, or our members can stand for.”
Asked by Gript about a recent decision in the UK to ban certain types of aggressive dog breeds like the XL Bully breed – a particularly large and aggressive breed of pitbull – Cullinan said that that Ireland should have a discussion about such measures.
“Look, I never like going out telling people what the can and can’t do,” he said.
“But it’s a very valid point. If dogs that are being bred are very aggressive, well then obviously, there’s a huge risk here, maybe even to the owners themselves. Because those dogs can turn on and attack the owner as well.
“You know, we always have to think of young children. That’s even before we get to animals. And I’m clearly saying we do not want dogs attacking animals.
“So look, maybe it is a discussion or a debate if we do need to have as well.”
He concluded: “My key message here is dog owners need to be responsible for the dogs they have and wherever are out in farmland, or adjacent to farmland, those dogs have to be on a leash. Because we cannot control what a dog will do if they just go wild among a field of sheep, or even cattle.”