Letters to the Editor: It is clear that unfettered access by dogs is fouling our best places
A reader points out that about one third of dogs are unlicensed and the fine for dog fouling is just €150. Picture: Denis Minihane
Anja Murray is correct. Recent research from Trinity College Dublin confirms that dogs cause a serious threat to public health.
That arises from dangerous infestations of roundworms and toxicara canis.
That infestation was found in playgrounds, putting young children at risk.
At the same time, University College Dublin research shows a significant minority of people are careless and do not clean up the mess their dogs make.
Those researchers advise erecting warning notices to encourage better care from dog owners.
That won’t work. It’s like asking customers to smoke smaller cigarettes in the public house.
Last year our local authorities issued less than one fine per week for dog fouling and the trend is down, not up.
In any event it’s harder for the councils to do their duty when dog owners are so sneaky.
A high proportion of them are careless individuals who wait until dark to take their dogs out to defecate around neighbouring properties.
It is clear that unfettered access by dogs is fouling our best places.
Dublin has over 30,000 dogs and Cork has a large number too.
This health hazard must be tackled.
We don’t suffer dogs fouling indoors, so why tolerate it outdoors?
Dogs must be banned from areas of public recreation because they are damaging the very essence of the attractions.
Nature conservation sites mentioned by Anja Murray are suffering long-term consequences.
Bull Island has been marred by the substantial number of dogs roaming uncontrolled.
Its wild Irish hares have been killed off by marauding dogs.
Bull Island’s official designations include a special amenity area order and inclusion in the Dublin Bay Biosphere Reserve.
These designations have failed because dogs are not excluded.
Local authorities are gradually limiting access by dog owners to bathing places where young children can be sickened by dog droppings.
However, these initiatives can only work if there is enforcement.
About one third of dogs are unlicensed and the fine for dog fouling is just €150.
The necessary changes must include a ban on dogs in bathing resorts and nature reserves, backed up by fines of €1,000 on the spot.
My heart sank when I read the article concerning the delay to the rise in the minimum wage due to Trump’s tariffs.
Why are low-wage earners being forced to bear the cost of economic uncertainty?
I earn €14 per hour and can barely make ends meet.
My fellow workers and I, on the minimum wage, are the people most impacted proportionally by rising costs.
My health insurance has recently risen by 10% per month on renewal — just one of many prices rises.
My husband and I are just existing, struggling to buy groceries, to heat our house, to replace shoes, let alone our broken central heating boiler.
How is it just that the Government reneges on its promise to bring workers up to the living wage by 2026?
And remember the living wage is only 60% of the median wage and we are being asked to accept a delay!
Nothing much has changed since covid exposed the precarious and inequitable nature of low-wage life.
The Government wants to protect businesses, but who will protect me? We low-wage earners are being asked to take up the tariff slack.
There are other ways of helping businesses with further burdening the already overburdened.
I totally concur with the recent warning issued by the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI ) that Leaving Certificate reforms are being rushed through.
I am an advocate of reform, as it’s always good to welcome avant-garde, innovative improvements to the quality of our state examinations.
Many teachers enjoy receiving a new specification allied to the excitement of teaching something completely different.
I totally concur with the many teachers who say that all this is being carried out far too quickly.
One of the main concerns that science teachers have is the safety of students.
There’s not enough labs and the labs aren’t safe enough to do what’s called an AAC, which is basically the 40% project.
They are working on safety guidelines that were not built for projects.
So these guidelines were written in 1996 and updated in 2001.
So just on health and safety grounds alone, these teachers are very concerned.
Business teachers for example are expressing that they are not 100% sure on the content that they are supposed to teach.
There’s a new oral component coming into the English specification.
I believe it’s a great idea but sadly, it’s come very late in the development.
Ostensibly, the group that came up with these changes had only nine meetings and these modifications were suggested at the eighth.
It strikes me there’s a rush to implement reform and it’s all unnecessary haste.
The Leaving Certificate is the foundation of our whole society and I find it bewildering why there is this palpable urge to transmogrify the Leaving Certificate with such urgency.
It’s my assertion that these changes should not be rushed through haphazardly as if it’s some kind of box-ticking exercise.
I believe that the Department of Education should consider pausing on this one so as more time is taken before serious decisions are made.
I would be proposing that at least another year should be taken.
I have to ask: Why is there all this pressure to get all this done by the Department of Education?
I don’t think that schools, teachers, and students are ready for these speedy changes.
We continue to ascribe to the concept of neutrality and make demands that it be enacted through our Constitution.
We also refer to our forefathers’ affidavits that “Ireland will fight”.
It is obvious, therefore, that Ireland must be militarily strong enough to withstand any enemy’s attempt to use Ireland for its defence in depth.
Indeed, one of our former countries of refuge has openly listed three territories for annexation to fortify its defence in the Arctic region and its continental canal zone.
Ireland is sitting in the front seat of the Atlantic battle zone where 3,500 merchant ships were sunk in five years of war.
We have to be able to defend creditably, a similar occurrence and additionally the many underwater structures off our coasts.
Training must also be undertaken, often with other navies, to eventually allow us to go it alone.
I recently attended the Association of Comprehensive and Community Schools conference in the Slieve Russell hotel, Cavan.
The conference, as always, was the essence of professionalism with key speakers in all aspects of education — including minister for education Helen McEntee, addressing her first conference of teachers since taking on the role and she gave a splendid address.
For me, a former teacher and senator, the big performance of the conference came from famed runner Caitriona McKiernan.
She spoke and answered questions for nearly an hour with no notes, truly eloquent, a talk given from the heart and questions answered in great style.
I myself lauded her from the floor and the 300 delegates gave her a massive ovation.
I put it to her that she should consider a political career now that she has finished her great running era.
She smiled and didn’t give a definitive answer.
Now, I feel the main political parties should pursue her — a natural for the Áras.
She would even get elected as an independent, I believe.
So there is my runner for the presidential election.
