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A MAP OF dog attack incidents on sheep that has been developed by Kerry County Council in the past 12 months cannot be published or circulated due to data protection concerns.
It comes as a number of sheep were killed, and others missing or seriously injured, after dog attacks on in Kerry over the Christmas period.
The colour-coded map was produced at the behest of Kerry County Councillor Fionnán Fitzgerald after over 100 sheep were killed by dogs in Kerry in 2023.
The Fianna Fáil councillor wanted the map to be available to the public and gardaí to assist in investigations.
In some of the most recent attacks, five sheep were killed by dogs in a night-time attack Knocknagoshel in mid-December and several were severely injured, with others missing.
On St Stephen’s Day around lunchtime in the south of the county, a dog left the beach area to kill one sheep and give chase to others. The incident occurred at Templenoe, which is a popular dog walking area.
Fionnán Fitzgerald said it is “nonsense” that the map to assist garda and council investigations cannot be published.
“The concept of a map highlighting areas where such attacks on sheep occur would highlight for the public the prevalence of the problem; it would prick the conscience of dog owners in the surrounding areas as to the proper and safe housing of their dogs especially at night time,” he said.
He added: “The attacks cause great damage to livelihood, innocent animals endure great pain and suffering plus there is the huge upset – financial and emotional – to sheep farmers in rural Ireland.
“It would also greatly help authorities, such as the local council and the gardaí, in pinpointing areas where owners of dogs can be visited, asked to produce the dog license and further asked to ensure that their dogs are under control and not allowed to wander the countryside during the day or night.
“To be told that such a map, which Kerry County Council have, cannot be published under GDPR requirements is to miss the value of the map for the sake of a nonsense,” he said.
Fitzgerald also called for greater enforcement in dog tagging, saying the Area Monitoring Satellite system by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine needs to be employed.
In a statement, Kerry County Council acknowledged that it had developed a map of dog attacks on sheep in the county.
The map indicates the specific property where a reported incident took place and is used by Dog Wardens as part of their role as Authorised Officers in the investigation of dog attacks under the Control of Dogs Act.
“The map, as it currently stands, contains personal information in respect of landowners and developed for use by authorised officers and thus in compliance with Kerry County Council’s GDPR requirements cannot be published,” the council said.
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Thos is not what GDPR is about.
@Brian Keelty: unfortunately it is…
@Brian Lyons: but it’s not personal data.
@John: there is personal data of the land owners on it.
@Michael Carr: Key words in the article are “as it stands”, they can easily anonymise the land data and publish the map without that information, so they are correct that the current map cannot be published but it shouldn’t take too much effort to publish one that is fit for the purpose
@Brian Lyons:
No. It isn’t.
A bureaucrat has 2 options
A – do something
Or
B – do nothing
Option B will always win.
And then you can use G.D.P.R. or “health & safety” or “we don’t discuss individual cases” as your excuse for taking Option A
@Gerry Kelly: Exactly. AND that rare occasion you try to do something, it will be slaughtered by everyone, even more incentive not to try.
@Basildon Joe: Test that hooch before you drink it Joe
GDPR is a great hiding place.
Surely someone (Ai) can do this in 20 minutes and post it somewhere? of course the local gov don’t want to publish it, literally being the point of sale for claims, complaints etc. Agree with the councillor that ” Area Monitoring Satellite system by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine needs to be employed.” but for a whole swath of issues, again no way it will happen in Ireland.
@Thesaltyurchin: Yeah, you plough on there.
@marklars81: Don’t have sheep OR a dog. Doesn’t seem like a huge task, take a bunch of reports, align them on a map. At least we CAN do that lol, just cant implement it.
If a dog attack is being attacked by a dog, would a sheep attack not be getting attacked by a sheep?
@Me Me: My first thought on reading the headline was that Kerry sheep must be very aggressive.
@Brendan O’Brien: Only the famous ones that attack English tourists because they think they own the town
They are just lazy, it takes a minute to anonymise data like this. Pathetic.
Shot the dogs.
@Oh Mammy: ate the sheep
@Thesaltyurchin: A modest proposal!
I farm part time these days my family does the heavy lifting these days but when ever I hear of dog attacks on sheep I’m always asking myself why do farmers still never have folk protecting dogs themselves, we run 1 Dutch herder and 2 Belgium malinois and any loose dogs stray in here they’d never reach the sheep and In turn we don’t have to go through the hassle of shooting unleashed dogs.
When you fail to appropriately protect your animals with appropriate fencing and then complain about losses, forgive me if I have fk all sympathy for you as you rape our environment and moan to us!
@Chutes: my uncle is a sheep farmer, the devastation from a dog attack is awful, people let their dogs roam unsupervised…the sheep are on my uncles land, why shouldn’t the dog owners be responsible.
@Chutes: well that’s the most self-entitled comment of the year so far. Congrats
@Clare Power: I see sheep out on the roads all the time for a start.
If you won’t put in fencing knowing that dogs roam, that’s your decision. It’s a business is it not, it’s either sustainable or not and there will be losses. None of that is on anyone else, you takes your chances.
@mcleixlip: Cheers, where do I collect my prize? I have no dogs to be clear!
@Chutes: yeah I get u on that but dogs can jump walls and fences…if you live near a sheep farm surely a bit of personal responsibility has to come into play.
@Clare Power: Pretty certain sheep can too! There can be no escapees with appropriate fencing but that doesn’t happen let’s face it. So whose personal responsibility?
You could bring back wolves to control the dogs but you still need fences unless shepherd has suddenly become a career choice again?
A dog owner will get found for dead sheep I have found because though I had no dog I’ve had a farmer on my doorstep earnestly trying to convince me that I should pay him for the sheep that my no dog had somehow killed.
You can imagine the reception he got!
@Clare Power: shoot the dogs
@Chutes: all I can say is my uncles sheep were attacked on his land by 3 dogs left to roam by a neighbour…..
@Clare Power: Right, a few things there. Your uncle is not my concern. If he exists, I still wouldn’t know him. Nothing you say invalidates what I’m saying.
@Oh Mammy: We could shoot the sheep which would also fulfill the aim of preventing attacks.
@Chutes: not my point…the attack was on his land was my point…..I wasn’t putting any personal responsibility onto you lol
@Clare Power: That doesn’t change anything, if you wanna do him a favour, tell him to invest in proper fencing.
@Chutes: so he must fork out because other people are lazy or irresponsible or just don’t care….a very childish attitude that is.
@J B: Now imagine if I had had a dog. I’d have had to pay too for sheep that may have been killed on the roads for all anyone really knows. Have had many an encounter with a wandering lump of meat wrapped in wool on the roads!
The onus of proof should lie on the farmer for a start!
@Clare Power: My point is your bias prevents you seeing that you are exactly describing his behaviour also as “lazy or irresponsible or just don’t care”in that he failed to secure his lands and protect his flock by installing fencing that was appropriate, a dereliction of duty surely?
@Chutes: This is before we even begin to tackle the socialised cost of the degradation of the environment that farmers are happy to pass on! They are equally happy to profit personally from it!
@Chutes: In principle, it doesn’t matter who or what gets attacked by a dog, as long it’s on my (not the dog owner) property.
It might sound extreme, but might ask as well for parents put a high fence around their garden – in case your dog does attack.
@Wolfgang Bonow: I have no dog, at least read the thread. Who do you think had the upper hand in the design of what you say is principle? Imma go out an a limb here and guess landowners.
The guy who came to my door had the balls to threaten getting the guards, I have no dog, if I’d had, he wins? Fk that!
@Chutes: Long before there were sheep everywhere, put there by folks who think it’s appropriate that they have exclusive control of portions of our shared environment to denude and pollute, there were wolves, what ever happened to those?
@Chutes: I’m biased? Read your comments again..
@Clare Power: Why would I? I responded to each in turn. I’m happy with everything I’ve said here.
I refuse to debate anyone who tags in any further, my position is clear so no more response today, I have much better to occupy my time.
@Chutes: You’re clutching at straws now. As it stands, we have the landownership.
It’s the responsibility of the dog owner to control his dog at any time. It’s not the responsibility of the landowner do put up 2 meter fences to make sure a dog cannot jump or climb over. Same as for anyone who has a garden.
If a sheep runs onto the road and damages your car, the owner of the sheep, the farmer has to pay up for the damage. They are tagged, or at least should be and in most cases, the sheep won’t survive a collision with a car.
Asking the farmers to put up (better) fences as a protection from un-controlled dogs is almost comical.
@Wolfgang Bonow: The above does of course only apply, if these dogs are not abandoned. If they are, than it’s tough luck for the farmer.
@Chutes: By your logic, if somebody breaks into your house and attacks you, it is perfectly fine to blame you and simply say “You should invest in better locks”.
The intruder can walk away with no blame whatsoever.
Send in the wolves. That’d make these entitled so and sos keep their dog under control.
@Ronan Mc: Ah, wolves – surely they’ll go for the dogs and leave the sheep alone, right?
What about a map of immigrant attacks and where they are housed
Touch my sheep an I’ll fuppin *’ill ya!
So uhhmm, how do you supposedly anonymise a map that overlays and corresponds to records of ownership exactly?
@Chutes: If – and that’s an “if” because I simply don’t know – everyone has access to the “records of ownership” or can request details for a fee, can it be a GDPR issue at all?
@Wolfgang Bonow: Only if a map is produced I believe.
@Chutes:
Simple. Produce a colour coded map showing the locations of attacks on livestock without the landowners details.
Nothing complicated about it.
@White Chapel: Yeah, no-one will ever figure out on whose lands it was. Nothing complicated about you.
@Chutes:
Right. And why does that matter exactly?
If that’s the case, you better get onto Land Direct and Tailte Éireann first thing tomorrow and advise them that the information they are providing on their mapping services is breaching the data protection rights of virtually every property owner in the country.
Genius..
@Chutes: You arent a civil servant by any chance. You seem awfully invested!
@Mindful Muinteoir: I’m not no. I’m AuDHD so I think differently, especially about the things allistic people don’t really like to think that deeply about.
@White Chapel: The point was there can be no anonymity, that was it! Maybe you get on to them, I’m not that fkn invested, I don’t have a dog and nowadays I don’t live rurally either.
@Chutes: Just for a point of info then chutes. It requires an application to the land registry to find out who owns a piece of land. The data being collected is about where dog attacks occur. The person who owns the land doesnt own the dogs. They arent publishing who owns the dogs. I dont think they are publishing breeds or chip numbers (I may stand corrected on that), so I really dont see what piece of info is relevant to GDPR.
@Chutes:
You have a lot of comments posted here for a lad who’s “Not that fkn invested” don’t you? Lol
Here’s a grand bit of related reading for you. It seems you might have to correct the CEI while your at it..
Never mind the sheep sheep that attack, what about that fn puck goat. The streets of Killorglin are mad dangerous!
GDPR is relevant where there is a name & an identifiable piece of information associated with the name. This is not that! A national map of dog attacks should be developed. Its a great idea & well done Kerry CoCo for taking the initiative.
If it was a Shark attack ?
Beaches would be closed
Signs everywhere
(Probably someone looking for a bigger boat )
But it’s only a Sheep, and “Fido” wouldn’t hurt a thing.
A whole flock having miscarriages , still births.
Sheep not fit to continue as a breeding flock.
And tree huggers giving out about the environment.
World gone mad.
Is this a follow on to the famous werewolf outbreak in Swinford that was reported on boards.ie a number of years back? I seem to remember even the Wikipedia page made mention of it.
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