Sinead O’Gorman was at The Cove in the late afternoon on Sunday, October 15 with her sister and children (aged three and six), when a “sizeable” Irish Setter ran towards her son as he was playing near the shoreline.
Sinead said she shouted out to see who owned the dog and at the “very end of the beach” there was a woman who indicated she was the owner.
Sinead ran over to her son who she said was “hysterical” and tried to pack up, when the dog “came at us again”.
“He wasn’t aggressive,” Sinead said, but it was still disturbing for the child, “and I went over to her [the woman] and said: ‘Can you put the dog on a leash?’ And she said: ‘It’s after leash hours, it’s after 4.30.’ And clearly, I didn’t know that.”
Sinead said she was a bit upset and it wasn't the nicest “human interaction”, never mind a canine one, given it was obvious that a “screaming child is clearly scared”.
She has been living in Greystones for two months now and has observed that dogs being free to roam off their leashes seems to be prevalent on the beaches. She said both of her children have been attacked by dogs in the past and it can be very stressful when they are out and dogs are roaming unattended.
“The prevailing attitude of dog owners is an F-you attitude,” she said. “I find that weird, rather than, ‘can we figure this out?’. Can we just be humans about this?”
Sinead took to a local forum on Facebook to see if any members of the community could enlighten her on this bye-law, where dogs are allowed to be off the leash “after 4.30”, as this dog owner suggested.
While those who took to the forum to offer advice were sympathetic (one even suggested her son could be ‘rehabilitated’) there were no concrete answers, apart from one respondent who did post a link to Wicklow County Council’s bye-laws, stating what dog owners can and can’t do.
These bye-laws, while dating back to 2012, still stand, and as with any rules, may seem to be open to interpretation at first glance.
The rules governing the town's Blue Flag South Beach are clear, in that there is a blanket ban on dogs from June 1 until September 15.
The rules also state: “The Council may designate areas of the beach where dogs are prohibited. No person shall bring a dog into, or allow a dog under his or her control to remain in, an area so designated. On Blue Flag designated beaches, dogs and pets are permitted in the parking areas, on walkways and promenades in the back beach area only. Persons in charge of a dog on a beach shall ensure the following:
• It is on a leash or under adequate control.
• It is not causing annoyance to any person using the beach or worrying, chasing, injuring or disturbing any animals, birds or other creatures on the beach.”
It seems pretty clear then, that ‘creature’ would include a child and therefore is governed under the latter.
A dog owner could argue however, that The Cove in Greystones is not a designated bathing area and therefore the same rules may not apply.
On this, the Council, pursuant with Part 19 of the Local Government Act, 2001, states that: “’Beach’ means and includes the foreshore and any coastal water, bank, cliff, footpath, road, car-park, sands, sand dunes and rocks contiguous to the foreshore. This includes any sea for a distance from the strand to 200 metres (seawards) from the low water mark. The words seashore and foreshore have the same meaning as defined in Section 1 of the Foreshore Act, 1933.”
Since The Cove in Greystones seems to fit the definition above, and given there is no mention anywhere in the ‘Beach Bye-laws for the County of Wicklow’, of ‘leash times’, it would appear that dogs are not free to roam, at any time, and must obey the general ‘Regulations and guidelines regarding the control of dogs’ as specified by the Environment Section of the Council, namely: “All dog owners must display responsible ownership of their animals. Keep your dog under control at all times . . . Have consideration for others, such as guide dogs, the elderly and children, and keep your dog on a lead in a public place.”
However, in a statement to the Bray People from the Environment section at Wicklow Council, a spokesperson said there are “no bye-laws in Wicklow concerning dogs on beaches, with the exception of dogs on Blue Flag beaches during the summer season”.
The Law states “your dog must be accompanied by a responsible person and under effective control at all times”.
It adds that “only restricted breeds (and strains/crossbreeds), which include Staffordshire bull terriers, bull mastiffs, Doberman pinchers, German shepherds, rottweilers and Japanese akitas, must be muzzled in public and kept on a short, strong lead by someone over the age of 16 who is capable of controlling them.”
In other words, just be human.
