Control of Dogs Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-26 ============================================================ Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South Sheep worrying is devastating. Its impact on animal welfare and farming families who suffer as a result of their sheep being attacked by dogs is devastating and goes way beyond the financial implications of a such loss to their economic model of farming. It cuts to the heart of what a farmer is as a custodian of the land and a minder of the animals in his or her care. The reason it is particularly frustrating is it is always preventable. We know of instances where pet owners have been approached by farmers who told them their dog just did this and the owners say, "My dog couldn't possibly do that. My dog's lovely, quiet and docile around the house." What nobody realises is that every dog is capable of this when it is running with sheep. It is in their nature. I think of the proverb about the scorpion and the frog. Why did it kill them both? It was because it was in its nature. It is in the nature of dogs and while they might not show that as domestic pets around the house, they will display it in the right setting with those animals and pet owners need to know that. I am not closing my mind to the Senator's proposal but he can see that there are broader considerations around cost. This requires a multifaceted approach. There is no single solution here because if there were, it would have been resolved long before now. Effective traceability that allows for speedy identification of a dog and its owner is a powerful deterrent and an essential support for enforcement authorities. I have plans to improve our dog traceability system through a centralised database and increased data consolidation across all Departments and organisations that have a role in the control of dogs. I was one of the Fine Gael representatives during the talks on the programme for Government and I was a keen supporter of making sure that control of dogs was transferred from the Department of Rural Affairs, Community Development and the Gaeltacht to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine was included. This was not because the Department of rural affairs was doing anything wrong but because this area covers three Departments because dog wardens come under local authorities and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage while my Department deals with animal welfare. Control of dogs is a good fit with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I want to get through a serious body of work this year on this. While I acknowledge the potential benefits of a DNA database, it is prudent to implement and assess the impact of better data before imposing the significant additional costs of a database on dog owners and the State. We will keep an open mind because this is a body of work I want to make real progress on during my term. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-26/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:42+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-26