Councillors back motion for sections of big parks to be set aside to let dogs run free

All the other, more suburban council areas in Dublin have multiple areas in parks for dogs to run free and off-leash, said Green Party Councillor Feljin Jose at Monday's monthly council meeting.

Fingal County Council has 10 parks with spots allocated for dogs off-leash. There are five parks in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown that allow it, and four in South Dublin, he said.

At the moment, dogs and their owners living in Dublin city only have one – at St Anne's Park in Clontarf, he said.

"We probably have a greater need for dogs off leash areas in the city compared to the suburban areas," Jose said. "We have smaller houses, we have people with smaller gardens, no gardens, dogs in apartments."

He tabled a motion at the 6 July meeting, asking that the council's chief executive, Richard Shakespeare, provide a report in September, outlining a plan to provide at least one dog off-leash area in each of the city's 11 local electoral areas.

Many councillors in the chamber said they had tabled similar motions at local area committees, with no follow-up – and all who spoke, back the idea.

So, with support in the room clear, councillors honed in on how to make it happen, with talk of another "working group" drawing audible groans, and a slightly warmer reception for talk of a "workshop".

Why not do it?

There's already a second dog park planned for the city, said Fianna Fáil Councillor Rory Hogan, when the microphone switched on for him.

Local councillors had put aside money from their discretionary fund, he said. That's a small pot for area projects, which councillors get to vote on how to divvy up.

Indeed, the South East Area Committee has identified a spot in Herbert Park, which isn't well used, for it, said Labour Party Councillor Dermot Lacey.

"The parks department seem to have it in their head that they don't want to supply and install dog runs," said Lacey, in general. "It's something that is needed."

Sinn Féin Councillor Anthony Connaghan said that the North West Area Committee had also proposed a location for a dog park several years ago, in Mellows Park in Finglas.

He asked why that hadn't been actioned. If council managers were reluctant to provide the facilities, could they explain why? he asked.

Fine Gael Councillor Clodagh Ní Mhuirí said she would like to see a dog park in each electoral area initially.

But, "ideally, I would like to see that it would be a requirement in every park of a certain size", she said.

Sinn Féin Councillor Kourtney Kenny said that at the moment people who don't have gardens are not allowed to adopt rescue dogs from charities. Perhaps in the future that could be revisited for those that live near a dog park, she said.

It doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive, said Social Democrats Councillor Karl Stanley. "There is not really any need to gold plate this stuff, it's really just a fenced-off area and some signage."

Dog parks versus dog runs

A dog run is a small fenced-in area where dogs can run and play off-leash, whereas a dog park is a section of a park where dogs can go free.

Green Party Councillor Donna Cooney said that the dog run in St Anne's works well. There are two areas, dividing big dogs and small dogs.

"If they are always kept on a lead, they don't get that opportunity to run around and socialise with other dogs," she said. "Their humans also get to socialise, so it's important that we put benches in these."

However, Fianna Fáil Councillor Deirdre Heney, who chairs the animal welfare committee, said she doesn't think that the dog run in St Anne's Park is working well at the moment.

"It's a very dangerous place for some animals and some small children," she says. 

She would rather see parks divided into sections, she said, allowing dogs to roam free in entire areas.

Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty said that while some councillors mentioned dog runs in their contribution, the motion calls for areas in parks that allow dogs off-leash.

Inner-city communities need more parks, and they need designated spots to let dogs off leads too, to reduce conflict, he said. 

Not another working group

Eileen Quinlivan, an assistant chief executive, said that council management is happy to work with councillors on the issue. 

There have been lots of requests from local area committees over the years for designated areas in parks where dogs can roam free, she said.

"There's alot of issues in this. I think it would be useful if we had a working group with members from each of the areas," she said.

They could discuss the idea of designating parts of larger parks, she said. "That may or may not be workable depending on the size of the park, the park users and the behaviour of dogs."

New by-laws would be needed, she said.

Heney said there are already loads working groups. "I think talk to [head of parks] Les [Moore] and [parks superintendent] Fergus [O'Carroll] about what we proposed for St Anne's and get the by-laws redrafted" she said.

Jose, the Green Party councillor, said he would rather push on too, and he asked the managers to bring a report to the next committee meeting.

"I would prefer to sit down and tease through some of these issues," said Quinlivan. "Because it comes up frequently and it is something that we would like to engage with the members on to ensure that we have collective agreement."

Jose suggested a one-off workshop. Not a new working group. 

Moriarty, the Labour councillor, who chairs the Community, Gaeilge, Sport, Arts and Culture Strategic Policy Committee (SPC), said he would work with Jose and managers to hold one or two meetings.

“Then we can consider it and debate it openly at the SPC and something can come back to the full council,” he said. 

Lacey said that any workshop meeting should start from the position that the motion was agreed and so the workshop was exploring how to implement that decision. Not reopening the question of whether.

"We talked about dog runs in 2014," said Green Party Councillor Hazel Chu. So she asked for a timeline for when the workshops would happen, and the decision would be implemented.

Quinlivan said that the workshop could take place in September, and the motion was agreed.