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NEW LEGISLATION TO make it a more serious offence to steal a pet dog could be on the way from Government.
Minister of State James Browne has said an action plan which will tackle dog theft and animal welfare will be published in the coming weeks.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee and Browne met yesterday to discuss the action plan.
“I was delighted to meet with my Government colleagues to bring ideas together on this matter. It is evident the theft of a dog – a family pet – is greater than the theft of a mobile phone or other property, yet they are legislated for in the same manner.
“The law does not account for the emotional distress that the theft of a pet can cause the owner of that animal. It is my view new laws or regulations should be drafted to make the theft of a pet a more serious crime, with the penalties to match,” he said.
Browne said he wants to see laws enhanced to support victims of pet theft.
Government will examine whether new legislation is needed or whether amendments can be made to existing laws to make punishments more stringent.
Consideration is being given as to whether to make it a standalone offence for stealing a support dog. Whether to make the theft of a dog an aggravating factor when sentencing is also being considered.
The issue of pet theft was highlighted in the Dail last month by Independent TD Denis Naughten, who raised concerns about there being a 33% increase in the reports of thefts of pets to the gardaí this year.
Under the current law, pets are considered property and they are treated in the same way as someone stealing a mobile phone, he said.
“We all know that pets are much more than property. They are part of the family in homes across this country. They are sometimes the only friend for someone who is isolated and a guide for someone who is blind or has sensory issues,” he said.
He said a “real deterrent” is needed to stamp out the crime.
Replying, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said it was “appalling to see an increase in this crime of people stealing pets off other people, often older and vulnerable people”.
“I do not have a pet but I know many people who do and I do not think anybody regards their cat or their dog to be property in the way they would a mobile phone or something like that. It is almost like a member of the family being stolen. It is a serious offence and needs to be treated that way,” he said.
Varadkar promised to speak to the Minister for Justice to see if the laws could be strengthened.
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Why is there no video footage from the front line???
@John Fahy: there is actually a half decent Instagram page called “realnewsnobullshit” with front line footage uploaded daily.
@John Fahy: There is, but you can imagine there won’t be much of it. Some people aren’t stupid enough to stand out holding their phones up when bombs are dropping. They have more important things on their minds.
@John Fahy: Go on to reddit and you’ll see plenty on r/combatfootage but if you want Russian footage then download Telegram and find a group called ‘Intel Slava Z’. There’s so much footage out there and it’s easy to find. I don’t understand why people can’t grasp the concept that a war is happening.
@John Fahy: because war is brutal and footage from it can be quite distressing and disturbing to watch..its not like the movies..if you want to see footage you can easily find it on the likes of twitter and reddit among other sites..however most news agencies won’t be showing any footage for obvious reasons
@John Fahy:
They’re not letting many journalists near the front, not sure if it’s to keep moral high among the people or that there’s too high a risk of journos getting killed or a bit of both. I’m in Dnipro now and it’s very difficult to go anywhere east from here
@John Fahy: go on Telegram. Plenty of videos.
@Dave Walsh: is that not the job of journalists and news crews? I grew up during the Vietnam war and there was video footage on the news every day. Something is very suspicious here
@John Fahy:
The war here is very different to Vietnam for journalists, Russia are pounding and destroying everything in front of them with artillery with better range than the Ukrainians and moving forward, artillery is blind, particularly Russian artillery
@John Fahy: I believe that the Ukrainian Army asked people to stop sharing videos of their attacks on line as it exposed and revealed their positions. Since I read that somewhere (some time ago) I have noticed a significant reduction in videos – it may or may not be the reason – but it makes sense. Still I am surprised by the lack of footage myself.
@Calvin James: Technology exists today to put unmanned cameras in place that transmit footage to a remote location.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh:
This is also true, I got rumbled taking a photo of a mural and had to wait to get questioned by secret police, they informed me that a Turkish ship was docked and took footage of missiles being fired, he shared it and it made MSM in Turkey, Russia destroyed the facility an hour later. As I also explained earlier in the thread it’s an artillery war, you’d be an absolute idiot to be within 15km of the front line with the way the war is being fought
@John Fahy:
Such technology would give away Ukrainian positions
@John Fahy: you will find all you want on VK
@John Fahy: it’s called IPsec
@John Fahy: Goodman John, why don’t you do a bit of freelancing to satisfy your suspicions…
Of course, Ukraine’s future is part of the EU. Well the western part anyway as it’ll likely be absorbed into Poland. The southern and eastern will be unlikely to join as they’ll be part of Russia which probably won’t get EU status anytime soon.
@Seán: wrong Ukraine will get all of its territory back.
@shligo boyzz: You are living in an alternative world if you really believe that the m.upp.et zelensky will get the territory back,they’re part of russia now, and THEY are not going to give them up as easily as zelensky did.
@Darren Murphy: youre a m0ron if you think ukraine is giving up anything easily
@Rian Lynch: I can’t wait till all the pro Russian heads on this app are proved wrong.
@shligo boyzz: Like they took back Crimea? They’re retreating from the Donbass currently so exactly when are they going to start this massive counter-offensive? Winter is coming and that means gas bills, Western governments are going to start caring about their own citizens protesting the cost of living crisis and kicking them out of power and less about delivering arms and defeating Russia. That means the west suing for peace, putting an end to the Ukraine crisis and normalizing ties with Russia to some degree.
@Seán: the big counter offensive has started in the south with Kherson that’s more important than anything in the east atm I’m only a armchair general but Russia is weakening they focused 4 fronts into 1 in the east and all they can get is a tiny bit of land. And I’m in no way underestimating Russia they may be stupid but have a numerically advantage in man and equipment. It will be though but I think eventuality get back the pre feb 24th borders and god knows what will happen after that.
@Seán: who said Crimea is lost. There is already several ukrainian offenses on all though there seems to be no real effort going on to push on with them. Russia has run out of guided weapons and is using inaccurate weapons systems like artillery. They are still making very little progress with some Russian forces turning on their commanders in the dombass region. To say Russia has this won is well wide of the mark. They could win it but on current form it looks like Russian military forces in the east of Ukraine are being destroyed slowly. An analyst I listened to yesterday claimed that the Ukrainian forces are in a position to force Russian forces out of many areas but seem to be holding off. He’s unsure why but thinks the Ukrainians are trying to destroy Russia forces. These places the
@Allora: Russians are gaining are not valuable in relation to military strategic positions. They appear to be political assets. Severodonetsk is a city divided in 2 by a river. It appears the Russians are entering the city to be destroyed by the Ukrainians. Its another stalingrad for Russia.
@Darren Murphy: why are you calling zelensky a muppet? most rational people think he is one of the greatest leaders a country has ever seen. If you’re simply pro-russia and the war, then fair enough, i get it.
@Darren Murphy: Not sure how fighting for 100 days against a massive assault can be stated as “giving them up easily”
@Darren Murphy: No critic of Putin ? … how odd
The Ukrainians are doing fantastic work; holding the invaders back whilst grinding them into the ground to allow the Kherson offensive to get underway.
Russia is finished, thankfully.
@Stephen O’Neill: which Ukrainians are doing fantastic work…… the Nationalists or the Republicans…. if only Zelenskyy had kept his election promises…if only…… none of this would have happened.
@Fergus Quinlan: which election promises ?
@Fergus Quinlan: Which election promise?
Because he didnt make overtures to NATO until AFTER the Russian troop buildup along their border.
NATO military assistance has been ongoing since 2014. Well before Zelensky was elected.
The commies are awake I see
@Fergus Quinlan: Ah Fergus, the man that used an article on the slaughter of 21 kids in Uvalde to push his anti Ukraine/pro Russian agenda (that took some doing I’ll give ya that) ….. a true humanitarian
Every week Zelenski sounds more and more like Comical Ali. “We are beating them back”, “They are losing so many men they cannot continue”, “We are holding our ground and will not retreat”
have your say