DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL has acknowledged that dog fouling continues to present a “serious challenge”, as figures recently released showed just 27 fines have been issued in the last five years. 

Figures release to Fianna Fáil councillor Keith Connolly reveal some local authority areas in Dublin city have not issued a fine in the last five years.

Just 27 fines in total were issued since 2017; 20 of those were in the South Central area and the remaining seven were in Dublin Central. In 2020 just two fines were issued in total, while none were issued over the course of last year.

Connolly said it is “embarrassing for the largest local authority in the country to have such low figures”.

“Throughout Covid we’ve had more people getting dogs, people using their local areas more and there are only two dog warden and 13 litter wardens in the city,” he said.

“In my constituency of Dublin north-west there are 21,300 houses and one litter warden for that whole area. When you have one person covering a massive area it’s not surprising that the level of enforcement is so low.”

He said he would like to see an increase in litter wardens employed by the council for enforcement in relation to dog fouling and litter issues. Connolly also called on the council to trial some new initiatives.

“The current policies need a radical overhaul,” he said. “There needs to be encouragement like handing out free bags to people, having collection points in local shops. There are examples from other local authorities like in Galway where they spray painted it, in others they stencilled ‘no dog fouling’ on the ground to remind people.

In Armagh they’ve employed a company on a trial basis to manage the issue on behalf of the council so it’ll be interesting to see how that trial goes. Then in Leitrim they took DNA from dog faeces and then tried to get saliva voluntarily from local dogs to see if they matched.

Dublin City Council Litter Prevention Officer Bernie Lillis told The Journal that the local authority has tried many initiatives, but dog fouling “continues to be a serious challenge”.

She said even enforcement of the Litter Pollution Acts has its challenges. 

“In order to issues fines, litter wardens or dog wardens and gardaí must be able to identify ‘the person in charge of the dog’ and that person must identify themselves by providing their name and address,” she explained.

“As a litter warden or dog warden does not have powers of arrest, where a person refuses to provide to provide their name and address, a garda must be present to assist in obtaining their name and address.”

She said the council had launched an awareness campaign in March 2020, including outdoor advertising, radio ads and messages on litter bins. 

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council

However due to the outbreak of Covid, many of the council’s assets were acquired by the HSE for use for public health messaging and signage. The campaign was relaunched last spring, she said, and community groups can request signage to put up in their areas.

Lillis said the use of DNA testing has been considered, but “there are issues in relation to evidence”. The stencilling initiative used by other local authorities has also been trialled by the council. 

• Our colleagues at Noteworthy want to find out what is being done to tackle dog faeces littering our streets and parks across the whole of Ireland. Support this project here.

Lillis said the council is already providing half a million free doggie bags per year and they are available at all council offices and libraries.

“Dublin City Council provided doggie bags in dispensers in the city but they are in themselves a litter generator,” she explained.

The latest initiative is a poster competition for schools in the city, Lillis said. Pupils have been asked to design a poster that encourages dog owners and dog walkers to use the public litter bins to dispose of their doggie bags.

“To date, we have received a number of entries and the plan is that the winning poster in each area of the city will be placed on the litter bins,” she said.