Man Bites Dogs

Richard Humphreys

Has Labour councillor Richard Humphreys been bitten by a rabid dog? How else can one explain his unprovoked attacks on the Dogs Unleashed organisation. His frothing effusions can be found in the current edition of LifeTimes (South-East) and on his web site: http://richardhumphreys.blogspot.ie/

 He characterises the Dogs Unleashed organisation as a "highly organised, well-heeled minority" who generate a "loud volume of noise and misinformation", and later refers to them as "those who scream the loudest". All this about a group that is merely exercising its democratic right to canvass Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council (DLR) about proposed changes to its beach bye-laws.

This decent and responsible group are representative of a wide cross-section of society - and are far from "well-heeled" in most cases (a crime it seems in Humphreys' book). Dog lovers are in fact an amiable and democratic bunch who come from gated mansions, solid middle-class estates, and council-houses.  Far from "screaming", they presented their case in a coherent and well-argued fashion, complete with endorsements from leading vets. A fine example, I would have thought, of local democracy at work.

 The most disturbing part of Humphreys' triumphalist rant is that it fails to mention that the final decision by DLR last week represented not a complete victory for either side but a compromise. Both sides had to make concessions. Dogs Unleashed lost the battle for Seapoint (and its equally well-organised swimmers) but won the right to exercise dogs off leash on Killiney Beach. 

The Dogs Unleashed organisation has over 5,000 members in DLR. A public meeting in Killiney Castle Hotel drew over 700 attendees. All of them felt strongly about the proposed new bye-laws and did what they could to change them by canvassing their local councillors. This I believe is what democracy is all about and should be applauded by our public representatives, not decried and sneered at. The Labour party is in enough trouble without alienating citizens who express views contrary to one of its councillors. His intolerance of democracy in action, and Tory Boy antics, would seem more suited to some right-wing group.

Tory Boy

Democratic Deficit for Dogs in Dun Laoghaire

What is going on in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council?

Citizens with respect for democracy are puzzled by the tactics being used by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council over the amendment of their Beach Bylaws in relation to dog leashing.  The Council were delighted, evidently, with the active response of so many people to their consultation process.  Altogether 589 people responded in writing to the proposed amendments, a much higher than usual degree of public engagement. 

However, they hit a spot of bother when only 16 of this number supported the reforms, some of them saying they did not go far enough.  This tiny group included the Seapoint Swimmers Association who wish to see dogs banned completely from Seapoint, Salthill and Sandycove all year round. They say, they are a danger to swimmers, to the elderly, and to children. Toxocara, an infection that affects 0.006% of the population a year, and dog attacks on beaches, two of which have been reported to DLR over the last three years (no injuries involved), were cited as the main dangers that dogs pose.

Of the remaining 573 who were critical of the DLR reforms, 220 specifically mentioned Dog Unleashed’s proposals as being fairer to all members of the community. It seemed particularly eccentric, many said, that the proposed bye-laws continued to insist that dogs be on a leash during daylight hours, all year round on a large beach like Killiney. On most days, given our less than brilliant weather, dog walkers are the only people on such beaches. At Seapoint and Sandycove, most agreed that restrictions were necessary so that people could be allowed to swim in peace.  In these locations Dogs Unleashed accepted that dogs must be kept on a lead, and at Sandycove banned altogether during summer months from 10am to 7pm .

Since the Dogs Unleashed proposals are fairly moderate, since they have over 4000 signatures behind their campaign, and given the overwhelming majority of support they received during the DLR consultation process, you might think that DLR would feel emboldened to follow the lead of public opinion.  But not a bit of it.  The public it seems were off-message, and the consultation process has now been extended, superseding the accepted procedure in a most undemocratic way. Lobby groups are being invited to attend a Special Consultation Committee so the Council can carefully weigh the demands of the Seapoint Swimmers, (a tiny minority) as well as the support of the County Manager (not a dog lover apparently) against  other users of the County’s beaches whom they are doing their best to banish.

The Council could have gained public support for this contentious issue by introducing bye-laws that have a logic that everyone understands, but this is looking increasingly unlikely.  The focus, says Dogs Unleashed Chairperson, Liz Neligan, should be on the issue that everyone is concerned about, which is irresponsible dog walkers who don’t pick up after their dog. ‘We are exerting pressure on dog walkers to be more responsible and already DLR staff tell us they can see a difference. Restrictive bye-laws that are divisive and hard to enforce are not the answer.  Beaches are for everyone,’ she says. ‘We are attending the Special Consultation Committee, of course we are, but we feel now that however reasonable our demands, they are falling on deaf ears.’

Submit and Subsidise

You have to laugh, albeit ruefully, at the brazen chutzpah of DLR County Council.  It has postponed until after the summer any decision on leashing on our beaches - despite our constructive lobbying and the massive support within the borough for liberalising the beach byelaws.  More recently it has decided to ban our attempts at fund-raising on Hyde Road on the 26th May.


Having refused us on a number of spurious bureaucratic grounds it compounds the insult by suggesting we might like to hold it in a dog pound. I quote:

• "However, if you wish to pursue the matter, we will consider your event in one the dogs off leash areas in one of our parks at Shangangh Park, Cabinteely Park, Deerpark or Marlay."

These are the very areas we are seeking to render redundant by allowing our dogs run free in designated areas.

And then it applies the coup de grace by suggesting that we pay our household charges (see below) - all the better, no doubt, to subsidise its undemocratic activities.

Household Charge - Funding Local Services

Thank you if you have paid the €100 charge.

If you have not paid, and you wish to avoid accumulating late payment fees and interest, please register and pay for your household charge without delay, on www.householdcharge.ie

Sindo's Attack Dog Joins Our Pack

It's nice to see that the Sunday Independent's in-house rottweiler has come out on the side of the angels.  Here's an extract from Eoghan Harris's article in last Sunday's paper:

BIG life must not dominate small life. Denis O'Brien and RTE demand my attention. But so do Posy and Dolly, my two terriers. Recently their right to run on Seapoint's long rocky strand in winter was being threatened by beach bullies.Dun Laoghaire Council bans dogs from the bathing coves of Seapoint and Sandycove in summer. That's fine. But a few months ago it proposed to ban dogs off the leash from the long strands of Seapoint and Killiney in the equally long winter months.Thanks to Liz Neligan's Dogs Unleashed campaign, the council is now offering further consultation. So I will put the pike back in the thatch. Let me now turn to Fine Gael and RTE's fraught relationship with the people of Ireland.

DLR Prevaricate on Beach Bye Laws

The following press release from DLR suggests a summer of discontent for all dog lovers in the area:

PRESS RELEASE

Friday 30th March 2012

 

Council invites in Stakeholders for further debate around Beach Bye Laws

 

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has announced that following a period of public consultation on Draft Bye Laws proposed to amend the existing regulations regarding the control of dogs on beaches, a range of interested parties will be invited into County Hall to engage in further debate around the issue.

Under the current bye-laws “no person shall take or allow to enter on a beach any animal which is under their ownership or control during the hours of 10.00 a.m. and 7.00 p.m. June to September inclusive.”  At all other time dogs must be kept on a leash. Under the new Draft Bye-Laws it is proposed that dogs will be allowed off-leash outside of the designated bathing areas at certain times, which is less restrictive than the current regulations.

 

A spokesperson for DLR says that the Council “is delighted to see a very real engagement with the consultation process, which has generated almost 600 submissions representing a wide and diverse range of opinions.” The Council is proposing to invite in a number of stakeholder groups selected from these submissions, to present their views to a meeting of one of the Council’s Strategic Policy Committees in June. The Strategic Policy Committee comprises Elected Members of the Council as well as representatives from various interest groups in the County.

The Council has repeatedly stated that it wants to achieve a balance between the needs of all beach users, engaging in a consultation process that values the opinions of dog owners, swimmers, walkers and all beach users alike. It is expected that the report on the 599 submissions and the follow up report of the Strategic Policy Committee will be presented to a full Council Meeting later in the year.

In the meantime, the Council says that its Council Wardens will enforce the current Beach Bye Laws as laid down in the regulations.

 

ENDS

 

For further information contact : Communications Office: commsoffice@dlrcoco.ie/ Tel: 2047090

 

SS Rebuttal from Concerned Citizen

This is an extract from a letter written to DLR by a local concerned at the high-handed antics of the Seapoint Swimmers (SS):

Re: Seapoint Swimmers

Dear Sir,

I was astonished to discover that a group describing itself as the ‘Seapoint Swimmers’ has petitioned the council to purge Seapoint, Sandycove and Salthill beaches of dogs, at all times, and without exception.

This kind of lobbying is wholly objectionable. No group has the right to privatise public space, excluding individual members of the community on the thinnest of pretexts, let alone personal and psychological ones.

The same wearily familiar objections have been wheeled out yet again: that dogs are a fouling nuisance and a persistent menace to the safety and well being of any human unfortunate to come within their proximity.

Obviously the Seapoint Swimmers are too busy to let a few bothersome facts interfere with their prejudices: dog attacks are vanishingly rare and none have taken place on these beaches at all. The vast majority of responsible pet owners have their dogs under control at all times, so the spectacle of some canicular torrent sundering the limbs of anyone in its way owes much more to fevered imagination than recorded fact.

The same goes for fouling: most dog owners are scrupulous in removing their dogs’ leavings, and are even more sensitised to the need to do so on beaches. There are some, regrettably, who let the side down, and dog owners would be the first to shop these reprobates. But it’s simply unacceptable policy to inflict draconian punishments on an entire sub-group without even exploring the alternatives.

The Dogs Unleashed campaign is a powerful association with both the means and the motivation to ensure responsible dog ownership is embedded at all levels and in all locations. Rather than indulging the absurd panic-mongering of the Seapoint Swimmers and their private phobias, I strongly urge you to consult with the one mainstream body capable of making a lasting difference to all stakeholders.

There are times when dog owners, quite rightly, feel worn down with all this needless vilification. 

Yours faithfully

The SS Threat

We would like to draw your attention to an association called the Seapoint Swimmers (SS), claiming to represent  ‘the interest of the swimmers and users of Seapoint swimming facility’, who have put in a proposal in March to the council to make Seapoint, Salthill and  Sandycove  beaches completely dog free all year round.

Dogs Unleashed, on the other hand, propose that these beaches be dealt with as follows:

• Dogs on a leash at all times within the designated bathing area at Seapoint beach
• Dogs off-leash and under effective control at all times beyond any designated bathing area, (including the adjacent Salthill beach)
• Dogs on leash, within the designated bathing area of Sandycove and Killiney beaches for the summer holiday/lifeguard patrol season only

If the council decide to support the Seapoint Swimmers it will be very difficult in the future to get this ruling reversed. If this is something you feel strongly about we again ask you to write to your councillors stating that Seapoint Swimmers do not represent your views, as our elected representatives you call on them to take your view into account and request that they liaise with Dogs Unleashed to find an amicable outcome that will include all users of the beaches at all times of the year.

Letter from Our Chairperson to Minister Simon Coveney

Dear Minister Coveney

I write to you as founder and chairperson of Dogs Unleashed, the citizens campaign in DunLaoghaire Rathdown County (DLR), by responsible dog owners, to amend local ‘dog control’ bye-laws that contravene as many as three of the five basic freedoms of all dogs.

DLR are currently reviewing our beach bye-laws and have offered dog owners one concession to allow us to exercise our dogs off-leash, outside designated bathing areas, before 10am and after 7pm. These proposed amendments are quite inadequate, unreasonable, in particular for the elderly and those who are handicapped, as well as being superficial and totally undermining responsible dog ownership. They completely fail to tackle the two key issues of dog fouling and the anti-social minority of irresponsible dog owners who actually allow their dogs to cause any sort of a nuisance or harm to the public.

We understand that the proposed Animal Welfare Bill will enshrine the Five Freedoms to all animals under human care into national legislation and ask you to request the Minister of the Environment to write to our County Manager asking how DLR proposes to accommodate their policies within the remit of the new bill.

As it stands now, 2009 beach bye-laws state that dogs must be on a leash at all times on all beaches

Also, 2003 parks bye-laws state that dogs must be on a leash at all times, with the exceptions of all of Killiney Hill and four undersized and completely inadequate dog areas in Deerpark, Marlay, Cabinteely and Shanganagh parks.

These laws and the proposed amendments stand in opposition to the widely accepted facts that confining a dog to a leash at all times on our beaches and in our parks is detrimental to animal welfare and to their freedom of expression. Vets and companion dog behaviorists advise that all dogs need the freedom to express normal behaviour such as sniffing, chasing, fetching, swimming, and socializing in the company of other dogs while under the effective control of their owners. These professionals further advise limited use of the totally inadequate spaces provided by DLR as harbingers of disease, and causes of physical and mental stress to dogs through concentrated usage. The DSPCA, ISPCA, Dogs Trust and others are supportive of our efforts in this regard.

Dogs Unleashed believes that everyone in society- and particularly those who make laws about them - has responsibilities towards animals. This responsibility depends upon citizens having sufficient knowledge and understanding of the impact of their actions on animal welfare. We have offered to work in partnership with our council and to develop programmes promoting responsible and accountable dog ownership in return for balanced and fair bye-laws that promote the many physical and mental health benefits of dogs in society. However, our offers to cooperate and to work in partnership have, thus far, been largely ignored. 

We ask for your attention to this matter, and invite you to contact us for any further information. We are at your disposal to sit down with you to discuss.

 
Sincerely
   Liz Neligan
 

  ----------------------------------------
  Liz Neligan
  Chairperson
  Ph: +353-87-244 9936 <tel:%2B353-87-244%209936>  <tel:%2B353-87-244%209936>
  www.dogs-unleashed.org <http://www.dogs-unleashed.org>  <http://www.dogs-unleashed.org> 

Irish Guide Dogs for Blind Looking for Volunteers

Volunteer Recruitment Evening - Dublin South
Wednesday 14 March, 2012
Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind is looking for volunteers to support their fundraising efforts in South Dublin

Join us on Wednesday, 14th March to find out how you can get involved. Meet some of our staff, volunteers and clients, including local fundraisers, who have been actively supporting us for many years. We have a host of exciting projects and events coming up and there's sure to be something of interest for everyone to get involved in.

Venue: Radisson Blu, St Helen's Hotel, Stillorgan, Dublin

Time: 8:00pm

RSVP: Finbarr Roche on  <mailto:finbarr@guidedogs.ie> finbarr@guidedogs.ie or call 1850 506 300.

If you can't attend on the night but would still like to volunteer, please call us to find out more about volunteering at Irish Guide Dogs.

Kind regards
Delia Webster
Communications
Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind
Model Farm Road, Cork
Tel: (021) 487 8203
Cell: 087 640 2716
E-mail: deliawebster@guidedogs.ie
Website: www.guidedogs.ie <http://www.guidedogs.ie/>

The Brady Bunch

An amusing article in yesterday's Dublin People on Cormac Brady's submission to DLR on the proposed amendments to the beach bye laws:  http://www.dublinpeople.com/article.php?id=890&l=100

Dentist Brady is chairperson of the Seapoint Swimmers association. He conflates grandiosely the narrow interests of the Seapoint Swimmers Association and the greater public good. He also seems to think that being "highly organised" is not a good thing. One fears for the smooth functioning of the association he chairs. He alludes to the "well connected" people who support the Dogs Unleashed campaign as if this in some way diminishes its case. We can only presume that the Seapoint Swimmers are all honest to God proles riding their rusty bikes to their daily ablutions. With enemies like Brady who needs friends.

DLR to Ban Walking Outdoors?

In its campaign to constrain our dogs DLR CC and certain councillors (step forward Mr. Humphreys) have painted a lurid picture of the clear and present danger presented by Toxocariasis. According to the latest statistics from the UK (see link below) your chances of being infected from dog faeces are 1 in 5,900,000 - let's say 1 in 6 million (there were 10 cases in a population of 59 million). Your chances of being struck by lightning are 1 in 500,000 (see second link below). Therefore we are twelve times more likely to be struck by lightning as we walk on our beaches. This does not of course mean that we should be blase about dog shit - but it does suggest that it's more an aesthetic issue than the brown plague intimated by the anti-dog lobby.

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Toxocariasis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_strike

Cllr. Victor Boyhan's Support

CALL FOR COMMON SENSE TO PREVAIL – ON DOG DEBATE

Submissions deadline date: Monday 20th February 2012

Cllr. Victor Boyhan said he had only received one letter in favour of the proposed Beach Bylaws that cover the shoreline area of Booterstown, Blackrock, Seapoint, Sandycove, and Killiney. While hundreds of emails and letters had come into my office opposing the “unreasonable and irrational restriction on dogs and their owners”

“I have always found the Dogs Unleashed Citizens Campaign very willing to engage in a constructive way with the councillors and community groups in this debate. - I support their campaigns Key Objectives.”

“Their objectives are both fair and responsible, as a council we have a responsibility to listen and response to the needs of citizens and take on board their concerns.”

“I hope common sense will prevail and am again calling on all sides of this debate to actively engage with one and other with a view to finding a consensus that can be reflected in any new Beach Bye-Laws.” Cllr. Boyhan concluded.


HAVE YOUR SAY! – Last date for submissions is Monday 20th February 2012.


Cllr. Victor Boyhan

Independent County Councillor
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council

DLR Harbour Company Meeting

Dogs Unleashed will hold informal discussions with DLR Harbour Company next week to open negotiations, on behalf of members of our organisation, to amend yet another highly-restrictive bye-law on Dog Control within their remit. This bye-law states:

Under Dun Laoghaire Harbour Bye Laws No. 93 (1) "No person shall bring into or allow to remain within the Harbour any dog unless it is on a leash and no person shall, anywhere within the Harbour where a notice prohibiting the admission of dogs is exhibited or displayed, cause or allow any dog in their charge to enter or remain there".

Of particular note are three DLR elected Councillors, Carrie Smyth, Jane Dillon-Byrne and Victor Boyhan, who are directors on the board of this authority and who represent the electorate of DLR for this well-paid additional privilege.

We are now calling our members and supporters to openly endorse the aims of Dogs Unleashed, as we progress negotiations with all stakeholders, in seeking fair and balanced bye-laws, and, in the best interests of all communities who enjoy our open spaces

RESPONSE BY THE CHAIRMAN OF DOGS UNLEASHED TO THE STATEMENT BY COUNCILLOR HUMPHREYS.

                       

RESPONSE BY THE CHAIRMAN OF DOGS UNLEASHED TO THE STATEMENT BY COUNCILLOR HUMPHREYS.

Thursday 19 January, 2012

 We are very much in agreement with Councillor Humphreys and the rest of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Council that dog walkers have a responsibility to keep dogs under effective control and clean up after their dogs. Indeed, by not doing so they discredit  other dog owners  and offend the general public.  We also agree that in designated swimming areas dogs should not be allowed to run free when they may cause inconvenience to swimmers.  

 However, it is quite true that we are very disappointed in the re-drafting of the bye-laws, and we regard the concessions to dog walkers as paltry.  This is because we do not understand the rationale of making it an offense to walk your dog off a leash outside designated swimming areas so long as dogs are within the owners’ control.  We do not regard the right to walk our dogs off a leash on certain beaches, before 10 and after 7pm only, as a major concession.  We would point out to Councillor Humphreys that in the winter and when the weather is inclement in the summer, dog walkers are probably the only users of beaches (excepting Sandycove and Seapoint where there is year round swimming). In other counties around Dublin and indeed around Ireland dog walkers are not bound by punitive and restrictive bye-laws which amount to collective punishment, and yet these other locations manage to live in harmony with non-dog owners.  
 Please let us focus on the real anti-social element, not people who take their dog off a leash because they want to exercise themselves and their pet, but those who cause a public nuisance by not cleaning up or have nuisance dogs.  Please have trust in your voters because the majority of us act responsibly in public, and bye-laws that are overly restrictive and insult common sense will simply undermine the credibility of the bye-laws as a whole. We look forward to working in partnership with DLR CoCo and hope that the bye-laws can be amended in a way that cuts a fairer balance between dog walkers and anti-dog groups.

For more information, contact Liz Neligan, Chairperson, Dogs Unleashed at 087-244 9936

Irish Times Coverage

Good article in today's Irish Times about our very successful meeting yesterday:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0123/1224310626535.html

Press Release: Dogs Unleashed Meeting in Killiney Castle Hotel

From: Liz Neligan, Chairperson, Dogs Unleashed Association

Tel: (087) 244 9936; E-mail: info@dogs-unleashed.org; Web: www.dogs-unleashed.org

January 2012

PRESS RELEASE

There was standing room only at the public meeting on the proposed revision of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council’s dog control byelaws held at the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel on Sunday 22^nd January.  Organised by the Dogs Unleashed Campaign Group, the meeting was chaired by ‘5^th generation Dalkey dog-walker’, as he styled himself, David McWilliams, and attracted some 600 members of the public.  Also attending were Councillors John Bailey, Maria Bailey, Cormac Devlin, Patricia Stewart, Lettie McCarthy and Barry Ward.

In her opening address, Dogs Unleashed Chairman, Liz Neligan, explained that the campaign had been disappointed by the limited concessions made in the redraft of the  beach bye-laws, the first set of bye-laws to be reviewed, which will be followed by a wider review covering the parks bye-laws.  While Seapoint and Sandycove will acquire the status of dog-free zones all year round, under the current proposals, Killiney Beach, beyond a designated swimming area, will be open to unleashed dog walking but only before 10 am and after 7pm.  The rationale of that stipulation, said Liz Neligan, was hard to understand since in inclement weather dog walkers tended to be the only people using the beaches.

In a well mannered and well organised meeting both the public and invited speakers, who included the vet Pete Wedderburn and the dog behaviourist Jim Stephens, made a number of constructive suggestions.  Do not rely on dog pens, said Stephens, as they are pitifully inadequate in size and in stimulation. Possibly use dog license money for dog training classes (a practice adopted in Germany) was suggested by the assistant of a dog rescue centre.  Remember that working dogs, such as mountain rescue dogs, have to be able to run free off a leash for their sanity, came as an impassioned plea from the floor. Several speakers from the floor hoped the campaign would take in the question of walking dogs on Dun Laoghaire’s two piers as the Harbour Authority have threatened to enforce their leashing requirements more rigorously as of next week. 

When David McWilliams asked everyone present to indicate whether they were prepared to write to the Council to ask that the bye-laws be liberalised - the deadline for doing so is February 20^th at 12 noon - there was a massive show of hands. Having the freedom to walk with your dog off a lead is clearly highly valued. It should not be confused, said Liz Neligan, with the more serious issue, that affects all members of the public, of dog fouling.  Dog walkers, said Williams, tend to be moderate and the aim of Dog Unleashed was to hit the ‘sweet spot’ where the sensibilities of non-enthusiasts were met without compromising the cherished and time-honoured practice going out for a walk with one’s dog.

ENDS