Cork councillor calls for more dog wardens in city to enforce ban on restricted breeds

While national legislation says restricted dog breeds like the XL Bully must be leashed and muzzled in public, Cork City’s bylaws go further, prohibiting any restricted breed in any of the city’s public parks.

Cities need more dog wardens on patrol if a ban on restricted dog breeds is to be effective, a Cork city councillor has warned, following confirmation that the city has just three dog wardens to patrol 31 parks and nine cemeteries.

As well as patrolling all the parks and cemeteries, the three wardens also have to do daily licence checks, follow up on stray dog calls, deal with animal welfare issues and do home-checks for re-homing of dogs.

They are only funded to mount park patrols for four-and-a-half hours a day, and two-and-a-half hours on Saturdays.

Sinn Féin councillor for Cork City South West, Joe Lynch, said a ban on restricted breed dogs like the XL Bully while welcome, will be meaningless unless there is proper enforcement of dog control legislation and local bylaws.

He has now called for an increase in both the number of wardens and their patrolling hours in Cork after city officials deemed the city’s 9am-5pm, five-days-a-week dog warden service “sufficient”.

He raised the issue after a constituent complained about the lack of enforcement of dog control legislation in the regional park in Ballincollig.

While national legislation says restricted dog breeds must be leashed and muzzled in public, Cork City’s bylaws go further, prohibiting any restricted breed in any of the city’s public parks.

And while it was confirmed last month that XL Bully dogs are to be banned from October 1 — a move announced following a number of recent horrific attacks by XL Bullies, which included the death of Nicole Morey, in Limerick — Mr Lynch said such a ban will be meaningless unless there is proper enforcement.

“Dog control, or the lack of dog control, is a serious issue that is raised with me regularly,” he said. “Despite the city's bylaws stipulating that no restricted breeds — muzzled or not — are permitted in the city's parks, there is next to no enforcement of this.

“In 2022 — the last year for which full figures are available — there was a mere €600 collected in dog control related fines in Cork City. It is not good enough.

“The vast majority of dog owners are responsible and abide by the laws that exist to keep people safe, however we must get serious about cracking down on those that are not.” 

The city council engages the Cork Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (CSPCA) as its agent to carry out two main functions under the Control of Dogs Acts — the provision of a dog shelter, and the provision of a dog warden service.

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The council has funded three dog wardens for the past five years, up from one warden post previously. The service operates 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, and for a time on Saturdays.

“The wardens are mobile, operating from vans and respond to calls from the public in relation to dog control issues, house call inspections for dog licences and also patrol our parks and cemeteries,” the city's director of services for road and environment operations, David Joyce, said.

“These hours are considered sufficient at present but are kept under review."

The CSPCA said the wardens mount patrols between 10-12.30pm and 2-4pm Monday to Friday, and for two-and-a-half hours on Saturdays. But it said the dog warden service is awaiting government funding to expand warden numbers, and has been lobbying for changes in dog control legislation for months.