Enforcing the 1997 Litter Pollution Act, which makes it an offence to leave dog faeces on the street or pavement, is a difficult piece of legislation to enforce, an official with Cork City Council has admitted. Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent, reports.
According to Environment Department Senior Staff Officer, Mr John Jones, the difficulties arise from the fact that the dog has to be observed fouling the street and the Council has to prove who the dog's owner is if they are to successfully impose the 125 on-the-spot fine.
Mr Jones admitted that while Cork City Council has issued very few fines against dog owners, he said the council has put in place a number of other measures aimed at preventing dog faeces fouling the streets.
Some 24 dog faeces bins were installed at 12 different park locations around the city earlier this year. The Council also sent 1,200 bags to dog owners to enable them to dispose of any faeces that their dogs might generate. The initiatives have cost the council around 6,000, Mr Jones said.
According to Cork Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Inspector, Mr Ted O'Connor, Cork has probably the highest proportion of dogs per head of population in the country.
"Cork people are great doggy people - apart from family pets, there would also be a lot of packs of hounds kept in the city. We've often tried to do an estimate and we reckon there must be at least 20,000 dogs in the city."