COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, May 11, 2026

QUESTION NO. 11

QUESTION: Councillor E. Ó Broin

To ask the Chief Executive if he has an estimate of the number of pet dogs in the county?

REPLY:

There are currently 5,595 dog licences registered within the SDCC administrative area. A dog licence is a legal requirement for dog owners under the Control of Dogs Act.

Annual licences are available at a cost of €20 while lifetime licences are available at a cost of €140. Dog licences can be purchased at any Post Office or online at www.licences.ie

As part of standard operating duties, SDCC Dog Wardens carry out dog licence inspections throughout the administrative area. Dog owners that do not have a licence for their dogs, are liable to an on-the-spot fine from an SDCC Dog Warden of €150.

With the exception of dog licence data, there is no official or published data available on the number of pet dogs specifically in South Dublin County. This information is not collected by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) nor the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine. It is estimated that one in four households in Ireland are dog owners.

The total amount of dog licences issued throughout the administrative areas, over the past five years, is as follows:

Year	Number of Dog Licences Issued
2021	8,172
2022	7,791
2023	7,248
2024	6,677
2025	5,967

SDCC is committed to promoting responsible dog ownership throughout the administrative area. For more information, please see responsible-dog-ownership11.pdf