Kerry most proactive as just 82 fines issued for dog fouling in 2022

In all, 18 local authorities — including Dublin City Council — issued no fines at all. File picture: Larry Cummins

Just 82 fines were handed out to owners for dog fouling last year, with over half of councils issuing no fines at all.

The most proactive council in terms of issuing fines was Kerry County Council with 27. The council also said there were two convictions related to these fines.

Cork County Council issued 17 fines, but Cork City Council issued just one. In all, 18 local authorities — including Dublin City Council — issued no fines at all.

The National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) said that dog fouling is a huge issue for people who are blind or vision-impaired and use footpaths daily.

“There needs to be significant effort from the public to clean up after their pets in the first instance,” said the NCBI chief services officer Aaron Mullaniff. “It’s imperative that we all work to make our footpaths usable for all members in our communities.” 

A recent survey from the charity found that it was the third most frequent unexpected obstacle encountered by respondents. The NCBI said that as well causing a slip hazard, dog fouling can also be distressing for white cane users whose canes are often dirtied by faeces.

The main problem cited was cars parked on footpaths and the NCBI said that over 19,000 fines were handed out in this area in 2022.

Mr Mullaniff said: “The dog fouling data shows that councils can’t be expected to police the issue alone. It’s impractical to think that wardens could observe every single dog owner who doesn’t clean up after their dog and then issue them with a fine.” 

Turning to cars, the data shows that 2,337 fines were issued to cars parked illegally by Cork City Council last year. Roscommon County Council issued none, as there are no traffic wardens in the county.

The NCBI said that if a footpath is blocked, people with sight loss may be injured walking into traffic to get around a vehicle, or from walking into the vehicle, as it urged people to take more care.