Not possible to give hours spent on ‘dog poo’ removal

SOUTH Dublin County Council removes dog fouling as part of its overall cleaning schedule and said: “It is not possible to give the number of man hours spent per month on removal of dog fouling”.

The local authority stated this in response to a question by Fianna Fáil councillor Teresa Costello at a recent council meeting.

Cllr Costello requested a report on dog fouling, to include the method used to clean up dog fouling and, on average, how many hours a month are spent on this.

The council did not provide specific information on how many man hours are spent on cleaning up dog waste, but provided general information on how the council removes it.

“Dog litter is picked up in the same way as litter is through our cleansing services across the county,” stated the council.

These services include the daily emptying of litter bins, daily cleaning of town and village centres and parks, the operation of mobile cleaning crews and a road-sweeping service.

The council noted that under Section 22 of the Litter Pollution Act 1997, where faecal matter has been deposited by a dog in any place to which the section applies, the person in charge of the dog shall immediately remove the faeces.

They shall then ensure that it is properly disposed of in a suitable sanitary manner.

An on-the-spot fine of €150 can be imposed on the owner of a dog who fails to remove dog faeces from a public place, with the maximum fine for this offence being €3,000.

“The difficulty with enforcement of Section 22 is the requirement for witness testimony, to report that the offence happened and that an identified person is the person in charge of the dog,” said the council.

“In the absence of such testimony, fines cannot be issued. The council continues to encourage residents’ groups and/or individuals to assist the Warden Service in this regard.”

The council added that a review was carried out in recent months of litter and cleansing issues which were brought to the attention of public realm staff through CMAS, Members Net and customer care.

The results of the review suggested that there have been no major issues in recent times that would require any substantial change to the configuration of cleansing services as they are currently.

For full access to all content on Echo.ie and to support the continuation of local news and local journalism in your community subscribe HERE.