COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM / TEMPLEOGUE / FIRHOUSE / BOHERNABREENA AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

MOTION NO. 4

MOTION: Councillor M. Lynch

That this area committee calls on the Manager to organise a number of full day static checkpoints / information points held by the dog wardens in Dodder Valley Greenway, Tymon Park, St. Enda's Park and other necessary locations to combat the increasing instances of dogs off leads resulting in dog fouling and dangerous instances with cyclists and children.

REPORT:

South Dublin County Council currently employs two full time Dog Wardens within the administrative area. The Dog Warden's role is the enforcement of the Control of Dogs Act 1986 as amended.  This includes:

• responding to complaints relating to dogs not under effectual control and/or dangerous dogs 
• carrying out of licence checks and the initiation of enforcement proceedings where possible
• seizure and collection of unwanted/stray dogs and removal to the dog pound. 

The Dog Wardens can be contacted on 01 414 9000.

The Bye-Laws for Parks and Open Spaces 2011 came into force on the 1^st August 2011 and are for the use, operation, protection, regulation and management of Parks and Open Spaces owned, controlled and managed by, or in the charge of South Dublin County Council.   

Section 4 of the Bye-Laws deals specifically with the control of dogs, while Section 8 and 9 deal with enforcement, penalties and fixed payment notices in relation to the contravention of any of the provisions of the Bye-Laws.

Park Rangers as employees of the Council are authorised to enforce the SDCC Bye-laws. The duties of the park ranger are centred around engagement with the public and monitoring of the usage of the park and its facilities by park users, the ranger is in general the first point of contact for members of the public whenever an issue of a serious nature arises in the park. In the event that a member or members of the public fails to co-operate with an instruction or direction of a Park Ranger, the next step, depending on the severity of the breach of the Bye-laws is to seek the assistance of An Garda Siochána to enforce the Bye-law. They are empowered to direct the public to comply with the Bye-laws and a frequent activity in this regard is to request members of the public to put dogs on a leash.

There are 4 park rangers based in Tymon Park depot who cover the areas of Dodder Valley Park & Greenway, Tymon Park, Rathfarnham Park as well as some of the smaller parks. St Enda’s Park is not under the remit of South Dublin County Council.

The main parks are patrolled on a daily basis by the rangers with other parks visited as required but at a minimum on a weekly basis. The recent introduction of e-bikes into the service on a trial basis has shown that rangers can be more mobile around the larger parks and can move more easily between parks and it is hoped that more of these can be provided for use by the rangers in the future.  There is a total of 14 rangers spread across the county. The service is provided on a 7-day week basis with rangers rostered on duty to cover weekends as well as weekdays.

Park Rangers and Dog Wardens will increase their monitoring of the above listed areas over the coming weeks.