Humphreys to establish taskforce to strengthen dog control laws
Heather Humphreys is open to taking similar actions to the British Government, where the XL bully breed was banned. Picture: Scottish SPCA/PA
A new taskforce is to be established to examine measures to strengthen Ireland’s laws on dog control.
Heather Humphreys will today inform Cabinet that former Garda Assistant Commissioner John Twomey will chair the new stakeholder group on dog control.
The group will be tasked with recommending changes to strengthen Ireland’s laws on dog control and will be made up of several government departments, as well as representatives from the Irish Farmers Association, Dogs Trust and the ISPCA.
It is understood that Ms Humphreys is very open to taking actions similar to that taken by the British Government, where the XL bully breed was banned unless an owner had an exemption certificate.
Earlier this year, Ms Humphreys announced that spot fines for serious dog control offences would be tripled from €100 to €300, while increasing funding to dog warden services.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue is due to update Government on a project to archive between 8m-11m records from the former Irish Land Commission.
The documents, which are historically significant and held by the Department of Agriculture, are due to be catalogued and provided to the National Archives as is required under Irish law.
A pilot phase is set to be established first, which will examine the time frame and a roadmap to catalogue all these records. After this is carried out, a final cost — expected to be significant — will be provided to Cabinet.
The Land Commission itself, first established by the British Government in 1843, was used in the re-distribution of land to Irish farmers following the Land War in the late 1870s. It was formally dissolved in 1999.
Higher Education Minister Simon Harris will update Cabinet on a series of measures to bring more people into careers in both construction and offshore wind. Mr Harris will outline further actions as part of a campaign to bring people who are working on construction sites across the world back to Ireland.
It is understood that as part of his visit to Britain next week, Mr Harris will meet with construction workers who left during the economic crash and examine the existing barriers to returning to Ireland.
Mr Harris will also update Cabinet on a report which shows the economic benefits of offshore wind could be worth up to €38bn to Ireland.
He is set to allocate €500,000 to help develop skills related to offshore wind, including targeting mid-career professionals.
Elsewhere, Education Minister Norma Foley is set to update her Cabinet colleagues on the rollout of the free schoolbooks scheme for secondary school students up to third year.
A total of €50m has been provided to allow schools buy schoolbooks and other classroom materials, including e-books, workbooks, and copybooks.
The memo itself will be around ensuring that secondary schools are provided with the resources to buy materials in the run up to the next school year, beginning in August and September.
The scheme itself is designed to help ease financial pressures on parents, due to the significant costs ahead of a new school year. Currently, senior cycle students are not covered by the free book scheme.
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