Farmers take sheep worrying survey to the Dáil
By Veronica Corr
A Monaghan family has brought the message that dog attacks on sheep represent a threat to farm incomes to the highest circles of government. Twelve months ago, on January 19 a the Monahan family farm in Inniskeen in the south of the county suffered such an attack.
Niamh Monahan and her father, Eamonn decided they needed to stick up for rural livelihoods, including their own. Niamh is also a teacher in St Daigh’s Primary School, Inniskeen while Eamonn works in the field of data analytics.
The sheep worrying incident came to the attention of local media when the county’s veterinary officer issued a press release and graphic image of the five pedigree Texel sheep who were either killed or had to be euthanised. Some might say it was graphic, others would argue it was necessary.
“We lost four ewes that were in lamb. They were carrying nine lambs between the four of them, and a pedigree ram, 14 in total. They were all pedigree sheep,” Niamh said, recalling the devastating loss, which impacted the family both emotionally and financially.
It was the fourth attack on the flock in five years. Then the phone started to ring and the Monahans realised what had happened to their flock was not an isolated incident:
“Farmers locally enough said they had attacks and lost five or six sheep. One farmer lost 26 sheep,” Niamh recalls.
“We thought, hold on a second, there’s a serious problem here and nobody’s highlighting it. Are we going to bury our heads in the sand, say nothing, carry on and hope it doesn’t happen again? Or are we going to stand up now and be the voice for sheep farmers across the country?”
Happily, the father and daughter duo decided on the latter approach! To be taken seriously, they had to establish how widespread the problem of sheep worrying was. Enter Eamonn, the data analyst. He realised they needed facts and figures they could present to the people who could affect change. So, they came up with not one, but two surveys.
Eamonn works in project management and data is essential to his job: “We listened to the stories, and Niamh said ‘Dad, we need to reach out.’ The first survey was basic but getting that first piece of information back helped us to build a story.”
The catalyst the Monahans needed was a meeting with local Councillor PJ O’Hanlon, who told them if they wanted to take it to Leinster House, they would need data. Cllr O’Hanlon put them in touch with Senator Paul Daly, Seanad Spokesperson on Agriculture and Food, before Christmas. Eamonn explained: “We sat down with Paul in the meeting rooms of Dáil Éireann. He heard our story and acknowledged that we had a powerful one to tell. He recognised that we were extremely passionate about the campaign. He said that there was an opportunity for us to come back and speak to a wider audience in Dáil Éireann to make an audio-visual presentation.”
“We also met with Minister Niamh Smyth on the day; we see the power of social media. Niamh sent out the graphic images of our sheep attack when it happened and people were shocked. People don’t realise it still happens, they think it used to happen years ago and that dog attacks don’t happen anymore. When you live on a farm, you are so aware of it. Dog attacks are not isolated to sheep; we learned that as well. The change we are looking to make, however small, is on behalf of the sheep farmers of Ireland.”
Niamh set up the first survey on Google forms. She explained: “It was anonymous. I felt people might be a wee bit more honest, because sometimes when people have to put their name to things, they might think - Oh God, I don’t want people to actually know the truth of how many (sheep attacks) I’ve had or how much I’ve lost. There were two forms sent out through social media. I have an Instagram page; I call it my ‘Farmstagram’ page!”
It went from a farming to a campaign page. Niamh got the word out through farming Instagrammers and farm groups on Facebook. She also acknowledged the North East Texel Society, of which she is a member, for encouraging people to fill in the survey and passed it on to the national organisation, who in turn informed the smaller groups and clubs.
“The first survey was filled in by 558 sheep farmers, 73% of which reported having a dog attack on their farm. That was a massive initial statistic. Then we sent out a second survey, which is a little bit more in-depth, aimed at the people who had responded ‘yes,’ to find out how many attacks they had on their flock.”
It also enquired what financial losses were sustained, Niamh continued: “We got an average of four attacks per flock and each flock lost 18 sheep on average. We had some farmers say that they had 20 attacks and lost up to 200 sheep.
“We went into the financial side of it too, but we said from the start that the mental health side of it was massive. I know some farmers would factor in the financial as having even more of an effect on their mental health. The whole trauma of it but then having to pay bills after losing all that money. Respondents reported losing anywhere between €400 and €20,000, which averaged out at €3,013 per farmer. Some farmers had a substantial loss of pedigree showing stock or massive losses up on €20,000.”
Plan
The plan from the outset was to present their findings to the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Monahan family succeeded in that aim on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, one day after the first anniversary of the attack on their flock which inspired the campaign. Briege, Eamonn’s wife and Niamh’s mother, joined them for the trip to Leinster House.
“The Dáil was fantastic, we got some great feedback. One of the questions we received was underreporting and how we saw that changing. When farmers see something being done, however small, like some sort of compensation, it shows them that it’s worth their while reporting to the dog warden and An Garda Síochána. There is a huge amount of underreporting,” Eamonn said of their productive day in the Houses of the Oireachtas.
“Minister Niamh Smyth acknowledged that we had very powerful data and a list of next steps.”
One of these was the creation of a national DNA database for all dogs.
“Senator Robbie Gallagher said that 55% of the dogs impounded in Ireland in 2025 were not microchipped,” Eamonn said, commenting that was a damning statistic.
Eamonn made the point that consenting to your dog’s DNA being taken could protect your pet, if falsely accused of a sheep attack. He praised responsible dog owners for licencing and microchipping their dogs. He asked everyone with a dog to consider what it would be like losing that dog or having to break the news to children or grandchildren if that dog got shot. Always knowing where your dog is will ensure that your pet stays out of harm’s way.
“Shooting a dog is always a last resort for a farmer,” Eamonn added.
While they were in Dáil Éireann they also campaigned for the re-release of an ad that used to run on Irish TV, an animation that showed a much-loved family pet meeting up with a pack of dogs when he was outside. He and the others terrorised a sheep flock, before he returned home to his cosy spot in front of the fire back home with his family. The advertisement has been reissued by the Department of Agriculture and Niamh is promoting the sharing of it on social media. She would also like to see it run on TV again.
Niamh is a passionate advocate for the farming community and has incorporated it into her fulltime teaching job. Just the other day a pupil brought told her they saw a dog without a lead!
The young farmer organised a Farm Safety Day in her school and she was delighted to report that kids who weren’t from farming backgrounds seemed to get as much or more out of it than those who grew up in an agricultural setting. She enlisted the help of Alma Jordon from AgriKids to assist. The next Farm Safety Day at St Daigh’s National School is planned for June.
One thing leads to another and Alma asked Niamh to get involved with Irish Rural Link. Now Niamh is their Farm Safety Community Champion for Monaghan, Cavan and Louth. With a surname like Monahan she was always destined to represent her county! One positive initiative that came out of it was the creation of a Farmers’ Haggart. Niamh said the outpouring of support they received in the wake of their last sheep attack, underlined the importance of farmers talking to each other in what can be a very isolating profession.
Niamh met the now Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon at the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association AGM in Roscommon last September:
“I got the opportunity to speak to him. I only had preliminary results, but I presented them to him on that day.
“He was concerned and raised it in his speech. He said that he was going to work hard on behalf of the sheep farmers with the department on this problem. Since then, I’ve sent a few emails to his office to give them the up-to-date statistics.”
Presenting to the Government was the fulfilment of a year long aspiration for the Monahans.
Niamh concluded: “This time last year dad made the point of saying to me ‘God, you know I’d love to get you to stand in front of the Government and speak on behalf of everyone.’
“That was a full circle moment it was great for us. But it doesn’t end there we’re going to keep going we did say that in the Dáil.”
And the last word went to her dad Eamonn: “Sheep worrying is 32-county problem. We think the Northern Ireland Executive should be involved too. A dog doesn’t know whether he’s in Monaghan or Armagh.”