Dog owners’ group hand in petition 

Dog owners recently held a demonstration outside Fingal County Hall, Swords, to oppose a controversial bye-law introduced by the council.

Fingal Dog Owners’ Group hand-delivered a petition, containing 9,000 signatures, calling for the dog off-leash bye-law to be reversed. 

The group is vehemently opposed to the council’s introduction of park bye-laws which require dogs to be on leashes in public parks at certain times except in designated zones.

The group insists that these zones are “too restrictive”. 

Cllr Jimmy Guerin (Ind) and Cllr Paul Donnelly (SF) received the petitions in acknowledgement of Fingal Dog Owners Group's representation of dog owners/walkers.

The group said it is seeking the support of all public representatives to bring a motion before the council to review and set aside the newly amended bye-law before the local elections in May, and before the lifetime of the current council, who adopted the bye-law, expires.

John O'Callaghan, a committee member of Fingal Dog Owners’ Group told Northside People: “This issue is not going away and election canvassers are likely to face questioning on the doorsteps on the topic.” 

In their short existence, Fingal Dog Owners’ Group has grown to just under 2,000 members. 

The group has received widespread media coverage in recent weeks including national TV recognition.