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LAST UPDATE | 11 Jun 2024
MINISTER FOR RURAL and Community Development Heather Humphreys has said she is consulting with the Attorney General about how a ban on the XL Bully would work in Ireland in a speech addressing the Seanaid this afternoon.
Humphreys said she has also asked former Deputy Garda Commissioner, John Twomey, to chair a Stakeholder Group that will look at “what further actions we can take around strengthening policy and legislation on dog control”.
“I think having a former Deputy Garda Commissioner in charge of that group sends a very clear message about how serious I am about strengthening our enforcement on dog controls,” she said.
Humphreys said that one of the key issues being prioritised is that of restricted breeds.
“I want to talk specifically about the XL Bully,” she said.
“The XL Bully is a cross-breed of the American Bully and is already covered by the restricted breeds list. I believe we need to go further,” she said.
“I am consulting with the Attorney General on how a ban on the XL Bully would work in Ireland and what legislative changes may be required to give effect to this – that work is underway.”
She said she has asked the Stakeholder Group to look at examples of legislation around the breed in countries like Denmark, the UK and France, which have implemented similar bans.
She said the ban of the XL Bully in the UK has been the subject of a judicial review, “so it’s important we get this right”.
“I know some people will not like hearing this today,” she said. “They will tell me that they own an XL Bully and it would never hurt anybody. I can’t ignore the facts.
“We all love our dogs but no dog’s life is worth more than human life.”
Humphreys has said that the Government does not intend to oppose a Private Members’ Bill put forward by Senators Erin McGreehan, Robbie Gallagher, Eugene Murphy, Micheál Carrigy, Malcolm Byrne and Diarmuid Wilson, calling for further dog controls.
This move comes after the death of 23-year-old Nicole Morey in Limerick last Tuesday, after she was attacked by her own pet XL Bully dogs.
“I want to extend my deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Nicole Morey,” Humphreys said, while also referencing an attack on Alejandro Mizsan, a young boy attacked by an XL Bully in Wexford last year.
Speaking on his way into Cabinet this morning, Taoiseach Simon Harris said he would like to see the taskforce conclude its work as quickly as possible.
“This work needs to happen in an expeditious manner. I think of Nicole Morey and her family, and extend my sympathies and condolences to her at this most tragic and traumatic time for them. But there is a clear need for government auction in relation to this,” said the Taoiseach.
Harris said his initial view is that the breeds should be banned, but said he is happy to hear from the taskforce, stating that it’s important to listen to them.
There is currently an XL Bully ban in place in the UK, where it’s a criminal offence to own an XL Bully unless you have a valid exemption certificate.
However the breed is restricted in Ireland, alongside Staffordshire, American and English Bull Terriers, Dobermans, German Shepherds, Japanese Akita and Tosa, Rottweilers, Rhodesian Ridgebacks and Bull Mastiffs.
An XL Bully ban is due to come into effect in Northern Ireland and Humphreys said she believes the Government should be in line with policy in north of the border.
There is currently no register for restricted dog breeds in Ireland, so we don’t know how many XL Bully dogs are in the country.
XL Bully dogs were banned by the UK government as it said that they have been “disproportionately” involved in dog attack deaths in recent years.
The UK XL Bully ban was introduced in October 2023 – the government received over 60,000 license applications before the law was implemented.
The dogs are highly muscular, and are the result of inbreeding by breeders.
Restricted dog breeds in Ireland must be muzzled in a public space, kept by someone over 16 who is able to control them, walked on a strong short leash, and be wearing a collar with the owner’s name and address at all times.
With reporting by Christina Finn and David Mac Redmond
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What the hell did he expect. You keep taking money out of the economy you tool your tax take will suffer. Basic school of economics. People spend less with less in their pocket.
Perhaps they should abolish property tax. Instead focus on broadening the tax base such as a wealth tax, an exit tax, standardizing discretionary tax reliefs, reducing tax anomalies, and cutting spending on the public sector, civil service and reducing entitlement spending.
Spending is the fiscal problem.
@ Jeremy 34, broadening the tax base and cutting public service pay again!!! That’s your solution? I did some contract work recently for a government dept and came across the pay rates. Income tax would be at 41%, USC at 7%, prsi at 5.5% and also a pension related deduction of 10.5%. Is it any wonder that small shops and restaurants are shuttered on our main streets and that the black economy is flourishing. While I know Jeremy gets off rising the public sector a more serious point is that more austerity is on the way, water tax, vhi increases and mortgage rates will rise eventually. That’s why the middle income earners won’t and can’t spend.
Mr. Enright,
Public Sector average weekly wage of €918.99 compared with €611.66 in the private sector, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO):
Further, just days ago, a leading economist and senator warned that the public pay bill is up to 35 per cent higher than the OECD average and our entitlement spend is 29 per cent higher than the average.
Mr Jeremy, at least half the public service are university graduates, 70000 teachers with the highest pupil teacher ratio in the western world, 90000 graduate nurses, and so on, the likes of you would have them impoverished and living in council houses to satisfy your thatcherite policies. That might be the simple reason their pay is higher than those workers taken advantage of by their greedy bosses in the private sector.
I think for what it’s worth that a person’s tax should be based on previous years income .
If you ade a million last yer then you are on a high rate this year ; let’s say 70% .
This will then force those who have the most to either spend in the local economy to avoid tax or pay a high rate because they hae as the sayiing goes “their money made”.
Equally social welfare should be on a sliding scale ; high rate to ease back on over the years with those who are on the lower rate as time goes on being bringing a tax break to employers who are on the high rate .
The way the sysytem works at the moment is that the same people keep winning, a continuosly increasing seed capital fund allows for market dominance by cartels.
Another point is that if a person is in receipt of a state payment income then any or all other income should be taxed at 75% .
So then ex-civil servants on a pension .and who return to their old jobs mightn’t bother ! Or let’s say of the 40,000 farmers, for example, who work in the civil service would have to pay high tax on farm income ; this would force those who own land to either invest ,and thus create employment, or pay tax to cover for the person who is forced onto social welfare by virtue of the having two income streams.
The same should be applied to those politicians who are on State Boards while also receiving a political pension etc. etc. etc.
One ,man, one voice, one job !
Public Sector current expenditure is more than €51bn.
—————————————————————————————————————————–
Public Sector Average Weekly Earnings (2000 to 2008):
Clown
Jeremy do you have figures for what the total tax take is on that 51 billion ? Disposable income and all that !
Furthermore there should be a cap on total social welfare income or tax should kick in on it at lets say 20,000 or whatever ; if it exceeds lets say 50,000 and a social house has been provided thena “mortgage” payment should be deducted at source !
Everybody should get a nice job and pension in the public sector. Then there’d be no public/private spats, and everybody would have lots of lovely disposable income – not to mention the fact that the government would get loadsofmoney in taxes. What could go wrong?
@Jeremy. Why are you quoting average wages? These figures are skewed upwards by a small amount of high earners. What would be really telling would be a breakdown of percentiles. There are far more low earners than high earners working in the Civil Service. I’d be willing to bet that the same holds true for the Private Sector.
Of course quoting more realistic figures wouldn’t suit your agenda.
Relax everybody, all they have to do is come up with some more ways of taking money out of your pocket. They have the home owner tax, they are not passing on ECB rates, water rates on the way, chill. They’ll think of something. We got Brian Hayes, Leo, Enda and of course the Labour Party. A dream team of ingenuity.
They got this.
How about addressing the waste and inefficiency in the public sector beforehand? Streamlining would surely be easier on everyone than pay cuts and might be more effective in terms of savings to the exchequer.
Public sector pay and pensions are higher than most other Eurozone countries. A leading economist and senator warned just days ago that the public pay bill is up to 35 per cent higher than the OECD average and our entitlement spend is 29 per cent higher than the average.
Cutting spending does less damage than taxes, in most cases.
Also, in spite of all the “pain and heartache” so far the bill has not been reduced.
This leading economist has a senators salary and expenses plus his salary from a university. His children benefited from free third level education in the good times and he is getting nixers from any one stupid enough to pay him. I hope he falls out of his ivory tower pronto.
It’s been said a thousand times that Ireland has a higher cost of living than most Eurozone countries. Keep spouting that line that our public sector is payed more without the context and I’m sure you might convince someone eventually.
Cost of living is IRRELEVANT when public money is concerned.
How is cost of living irrelevant?
I sleep a good 8hrs a night, surely there’s a tax in that Ms Kenny? I also have a window I like to look out since the TV went in the bin, can we tax the view I have?
God I truly hate politicians and their little lick ar*e followers.
The alternative is spending cuts.
Gary; could you please supply the government with the number of times you breathe ; an average per hour will do; Diaphragm tax will net a fortune and turn the corner and get green shoots etc. etc. etc.
And while I have you; how many buttons on your trousers, and how many eyelets in your shoes ,(with length of laces) as well please?!
Dermot I’ll have those figures after mass on Sunday.
A prayer tax , thanks Gary , and what about a euro for every bead on your rosary beads ;
Are you reading this V.D. I can feel a big job in Oorup or da dail for me ;
you’re paying Gary (whether you breathe or not !)
My God that’s it a weather tax ; please submit number of drops in the next shower as well please Gary !
I must buy a suit !
Is it any wonder that the tax takes are down? Pensioners like us are scared stiff of spending in this enforced period of austerity!
Strong expenditure.
C’mon now civils time to take a pay cut like the rest of us.
Half way through the year and already half of you so called rebels have paid the house hold tax as i said people would .
Noonan is bondholder. Release the names. O wait you can’t because your name be on the list. Isn’t that right vinny
you also said we would get a writedown/writeoff and that the troika would be gone by the end of the year…one out of three is quite poor VD
Not to worry, the PAYE worker can be taxed another bit to foot the shortfall….
Yes. Again I’m going to point out that the Vincent dolan with the small D in Dolan is not me. Very, very flattering that I’ve made such an impression.
Your on here with 3 different accounts. Don’t forget Jeremy also.
Yeah sure Vincent.
Time to cut taxes and encourage people to spend again.
Time to abolish property tax and give consumer purchasing power a boost.
Ye good one vin
Jermey! Do my eyes deceive me? A pro government stoolie calling for the abolishment of the property tax
Maybe the coalition will finally see there steps are failing, they brought in more than they targeted as they intentionally made the target low, the ‘unexpected’ household tax increased the overall figures they said, but it masked a worrying decline in all other sectors apart from Corporation tax. This shows spending is being hurt, jobs being lost or cut to part time etc and the general struggle, but they will now run about saying they met the targets and all is rosy here as usual.
More reforms needed, and something needs to be done to help the middle class.
Darren
“…….there steps are failing…….”
Please explain tye above as I’ve tried myself and failed . Thanks.
maybe you can explain where exactly these idiots are doing it right rick cos a lot of people including myself cant seem to see anything good this government have done
Really? Hmm, what could we do? Right, better increase taxes … remember the 80s? Seems like Enda is stuck in a time warp.
we came through the 80′s without a property tax. Unless spending is cut, we are merely repeating the mistakes other countries made.
Cut spending? That would be inhumane, what would all the freeloaders and wasters do?
Cut public sector and civil service pay, abolish public sector allowances, reduce entitlement spending, reduce state grants and subsidies. On the tax front: Ireland needs to abolish property tax on primary homes and instead introduce a wealth tax.
Jeremy, they already have cut public sector wages & now there back for more..The public sector is only 15% of the working population yet everybody wants us to take paycut after paycut, agreed the top civil servants need a paycut, & €21 billion a year is too much for our social welfare system that is rife with abuse.. Semi states havnt been touched apart from paying USC .. & their wages are in now way similar to there European counterparts, eg: average wage in the esb is over €80k a year. Public sector everyday mule about €45 – €50 k.. No comparison
Current expenditure on the Public Sector is more than €51bn.
The country can’t afford this. We are spending more.
Actually, “everbody” doesn’t want you to take paycut after paycut. We want good value for our tax money, and we want to stop borrowing unsustainably to fund the public sector. It’s not about you.
There is a legal challenge to the property tax at attackthetax.com. ACC are going to announce their departure any day bank of Scotland left taking all their assets while insolvent god knows what scam ulster bank are going to pull with roll over Noonan. If they all left with what they brought nothing we would be way better off!!!
So even with my incredibly high marginal tax rate, my VAT charged on my after tax spending actually is more !!!!!
Add to that the crazy duty on fuel then vat then the “carbon” tax etc etc
All to fund the ridiculous spending, civil service rates, allowances, pensions, golden circles, etc etc…..
Anyone else find this insane and driving them mad with anger?
Austerity not working Noonan let me guess your next move new taxes etc. You are a joke Noonan and a traitor.
Uh oh better find something else to tax to make up the difference. Maybe they should tax the good weather that we currently having somehow.
I would support a wealth tax, a reduction in public sector wages, a reduction to entitlement spending, and closing tax rebates on business cars. These are just some. But we need to move away from taxing property because it likely impacts on purchasing power.
Well done lads…so we’re 5 BILLION in the red for the first 5 months of the year despite squeezing d lifeblood out of every citizen… leaving most without a bloody fiver in their pockets at the end of the week..
I could be wrong, but it looks like income tax for the year is looking to be about 12/13 billion and welfare payments at about 20 billion! There is something fundamentally wrong with that.
Imagine if the people didn’t leave this country what our social welfare bill would be.
Time to start booting foreign non Eu social welfare nipple suckers out for a start then start tackling our own social welfare nipple suckers who havent worked a minute of there lives.
Our welfare state cannot continue in its current format.
You forgot the approximately €50 billion on public sector spending.
Anyone whose name begins with “stupid” seems like a good candidate for “booting”.
In another article the gov are increasing social welfare rent to landlords. Gov should demand a reduction which would in turn would bring about cheaper rent for average joe!
Maybe Google shouls pay a little more
My 22 month old son is capabe of introducing all these indirect taxes..when are ye lot actually going to do the job ye were put into power for..do some real work and create some sustainable jobs.!!!
We’ve turned a corner all right. The real figures don’t lie. As Noonan said we can’t put pressure on the Banks ( we own) to lower interest rates. They need to be profitable so the tax payer can get a return. Well mr noonan, I’m a taxpayer and if I can’t buy my kids clothes or take the out to dinner because the banks are taking money due not having €3500 in my account. Mortgage interest rate over 5% now. I didn’t even do Economics in school but I know what it means for the Economy.
Simple you have an Irish Passport, you pay tax. Maybe not as much if you live outside Ireland but you loose your Irish Passport if you don’t.
If you drive into Ireland off a ferry you pay €40 road tax. You get a sticker for the window.
And leave our wages alone.
Save Our People. We elected you to do that !
Not throw us to the wolves!
They’d never go for that, since then our emigrants would need to have a vote as well. Just like all the civilized countries. Don’t think they’re likely to vote FFG.
Looks like big business is paying its way after all.
I suppose we can’t do anything about the upward only rent reviews for retail stores in town. Maybe that’s why thing are nearly 3 times dearer than they are in the UK ?
Oh sorry I forgot, we only compare our wages and not cost of living to th UK.
Free Medical care e.t.c.
Pacify me politician, pacify me with lies!
So we borrow billions and billions which is created out of thin air, at interest. Some goes back to the Rothschilds who create and issue the miney, to bail them and their mates out via bonds that they created and issued to us, out of thin air.
The rest is paid out in social welfare and public expenditure. This money goes around and around changing hands and everytime it does, the government takes a little in taxes (or 65%+ if its motor fuel).
The government then takes this and as its less than before, borrows more money at interest and sends the money out again. The cycle continues and our national debt grows, just like everyother country that lets a foreign entity run their country’s central bank.
Since we cannot create our own money and rely on a small percentage of direct foreign investment and what ever money Irish Agri companies make (and pay in wages, payments to suppliers – ie farmers etc) via exports, we are left with a deficit.
So can anyone tell me how we are supposed to come out of this recession??
Remembering that the ‘Celtic Tiger Credit’ Scam was just that. We were rich on credit, so that isnt a time when we actually had a true Net surplus.
Anyone???
Now there’s a surprise. Who’d have thought having people put to the pin of their collar to survive and half the country on the dole or emigrated would have affected spending and, indirectly, the tax take?!
have your say