Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys has announced her plan to ban crossbreed XL bully dogs in light of the increasing number of attacks by the already restricted breed.
She said that in February the UK authorities criminalised the ownership of such dogs and Northern Ireland is now looking at introducing similar restrictions.
“As somebody from the Border region, I don’t think we should be out of step with Northern Ireland on this,” Ms Humphreys added.
Ms Humphreys is consulting the Attorney General “on how a ban on the XL bully would work in Ireland and what legislative changes may be required to give effect to this. That work is under way”.
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It is understood the change could possibly be made through regulation without requiring legislation. No dogs are currently banned in Ireland though the XL bully, a crossbreed of the American bully, is subject to strict controls.
[ Limerick dog attack: What is an XL bully and how dangerous are they?Opens in new window ]
Ms Humphreys was speaking in the Seanad in response to legislation introduced by Fianna Fáil Senator Erin McGreehan, to amend and strengthen the 1986 Control of Dogs Act.
Last year, following an attack on a young Wexford boy Alejandro Mizsan, the Minister established a working group of experts, chaired by former deputy garda commissioner John Twomey to look at actions that could be taken to strengthen policy and legislation on dog control.
She has asked the group, which meets on June 25th, to prioritise the area of restricted breeds.
The Government is also looking at the implementation of such bans in other countries including Denmark and France, to see “how it is working on the ground”.
She said: “The ban of the XL bully in the UK has been the subject of a judicial review so it’s important we get this right.”
Ms Humphreys told senators “I know some people will not like hearing this today. They will tell me that they own an XL bully and it would never hurt anybody.”
But she said “I can’t ignore the facts. The XL bully was the dog involved in the attack on Alejandro Mizsan in Wexford and it was also the dog involved in the attack in Limerick last week which killed Nicole Morey.”
“We all love our dogs but no dog’s life is worth more than human life. It’s true that any dog can bite you. But consider the damage an attack by XL bully can do compared to a Jack Russell.”
“The history of these dogs is that they were bred to be aggressive, it’s in their nature. I have asked the Stakeholder Group to prioritise work on restricted breeds and I will be meeting with them later this month to hear their views.”
Earlier, Taoiseach Simon Harris said there was a need to deal with such dangerous dogs. Speaking in the Dáil he said the Minister had updated Cabinet on Tuesday and had asked the taskforce to “prioritise the issue around the ban on certain breeds”, and to “report on that specific issue as quickly as possible because we do need to act on it”.
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