Councillors barking up the wrong tree on dog litter

The key to ridding the county’s streets of dog litter lies in changing the habits of pet owners rather than anything the Council does, a meeting of the local authority heard.

Placed on the agenda for discussion by Fine Gael’s Madeleine Argue and Carmel Brady, the former spoke of the need to implement measures within the Litter Act to wipe-out the “disgusting” matter of dogs fouling public footpaths, parks and playgrounds. She asked for litter wardens to “be more visible” and sought the Council to run a campaign to provide free dog litter bags.
Cllr Brady added that it was frustrating to see dog owners willing to spend hundreds of euros in caring for their pet at the vet, but at the same time show total disregard when it came to tidying up after their canine friend. She asked for more signage reminding dog owners of their responsibility and the potential sanctions to be imposed if they failed to fulfil them.
Their joint-motion was supported by Fianna Fáil’s Clifford Kelly, and Shane P O’Reilly. The Mullagh man said the issue of dog litter was one which had blighted the local authority for the past decade.
He retold a story of how an unnamed relative, working with an angle grinder, hit a dried piece of dog litter.
“It shot up and hit him in the face and he ingested some of it through his eyes,” Cllr O’Reilly told a shocked and now silent meeting. He added that his relative required hospital treatment and it wasn’t until it was discovered that the source of his subsequent illness was due to faecal bacteria that a cure was properly administered.
Niamh Smyth (FF) and Paddy Smith (FG) also commented, the latter suggesting it is difficult to get a conviction arising from such incidents without photographic proof.

Attitude
Clearly frustrated, Director of Services Ger Finn told the meeting that the council had run a campaign calling on dog owners to be more responsible regarding their pets, signage had been put up, a leaflet drop was organised, dog bins put in place and bags provided across three towns. Still the problem has persisted.
He said the Council tries to bring prosecutions, and that they were buying more bags, but that unless dog owners changed their attitudes, there was very little else the local authority could do.