INDEPENDENT TD FINIAN McGrath has said that while everyone is talking about water charges, another serious issue continues to go “under the radar”: dog poo.
McGrath said that there are three types of dog owners: “responsible, irresponsible and the ones that pretend to be responsible” but let their dogs out at night to go to the toilet.
The Dublin North–Central TD said that many parents are “very concerned” about the issue and “afraid to let out their children to play on the green [in their estates]“.
McGrath asked what the government was doing to combat the problem in Dublin.
Environment Minister Phil Hogan said that “substantial resources” were available to councils and said it was “a matter for each local authority to determine the most appropriate approach” to dealing with dog litter.
He said that certain offences defined under the Litter Pollution Act could incur on-the-spot fines of €150 and maximum fines of €3500 and a potential conviction.
McGrath noted that the dogs in Hogan’s Carlow-Kilkenny constituency are probably “very well behaved” and “posh” but said the government needed to ensure that sufficient resources are provided to Dublin City Council to help tackle the issue.
“It is a very important issue,” he stated.
Phil Hogan. Source: Screengrab/Oireachtas TV
Hogan said that “the money is there” to deal with the issue and noted it was up to individual councillors to prioritise it.
He said dog poo was being targeted by the provision of “pooper scooper materials” and awareness campaigns urging owners to pick up after the dogs.
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