Speaking after a Comhairle na Tuaithe meeting in Dublin dedicated to the issue of dog control, IFA Hill Chair Caillin Conneely has called on the Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to secure the necessary resources in the upcoming Budget to hit the ground running when his Department assumes full responsibility for dog control later this year.
“Farmers are at breaking point. They are frustrated and sick of false promises. Understanding and empathy is one thing, but tangible action through legislative changes and more boots on the ground is another if we are to put a halt to the ongoing and growing incidence of irresponsible dog ownership, dog attacks and livestock worrying. What’s there at the minute just isn’t sufficient,” he said.
“Some things could happen quite quickly, such as a centralised database. All enforcement authorities would have access to this, and it would identify individual dogs and the person responsible. Treatment or prescription of medicine for dogs should be limited only to those that are properly licensed and microchipped. Sanctions that better reflect the damage caused by dogs should also be looked at, as should more targeted education/awareness campaigns,” he said.
Wicklow hill sheep farmer and former IFA Hill Farming Chair Pat Dunne, who was part of a panel discussion at the meeting, and one of the first farmers in the country to get agreed access routes established, said “I am definitely not anti-dogs or anti-hill walkers, but an immediate ban on dogs (other than working dogs) on the farmed land is the only solution at this stage. We gave permission to the hillwalker, not the dogs, and we need bye-laws introduced to deliver this”.
“What’s there at the minute just isn’t working. It’s not possible or practical to police existing provisions,” he said.
“We allowed access onto our hill in 2007, first allowing dogs only on leads, but we soon discovered that this wasn’t happening. Dogs were let off when on the hills and out of sight. We then brought in a ‘No Dogs Allowed’ policy. Most understood the potential risk dogs bring to the sheep and wildlife and were respectful of our wishes, but some, particularly in more recent years, met us with resistance, both verbally & physically.”
Pat Dunne explained how one such incident forced him to regrettably remove access from his land for walkers after years accommodating walkers along the popular Zig-Zag Glenmalure route.
“We need to take these enforcement obligations away from the farmer, because we have more to be doing and shouldn’t have to explain our wishes to strangers accessing our privately-owned land. We need bye-laws in place that ban non-working dogs on the uplands. It’s there for scramblers in some parts of the county so it shouldn’t be too hard to get it sorted out once and for all,” he said.
Matthew McGreehan, a hill sheep farmer on the Cooley Mountains and member of the IFA Sheep Committee, said hill farmers are under siege. “Our property rights are being taken for granted. Our livelihoods are under threat. We need laws strengthened because there is no law and order at the minute.”
“Farmers are having to deal with abusive hill walkers with dogs more and more. Some elderly hill farmers are afraid to even tend to their sheep at this stage for fear of confrontation. Younger farmers are fed up with it too. I’d be afraid to go away for a day now in case my sheep would be chased/attacked while I’m away. It’s relentless,” he said.
“Laws need to change. Effective control means nothing, and laws having dogs on leads won’t work. They’re not enforceable out on open land and may actually increase the number of dogs on the hills and exacerbate the problem. We need an outright ban of non-working dogs on the hills, and it shouldn’t be too much to ask. In many instances the hill walker is only there because of the Walks Scheme and farmers giving permission to access their lands. The way things are going, I can see more and more farmers withdrawing access,” he said.
