Wicklow County Council needs to introduce a ‘Green Dog Walkers’ programme to reduce and eliminate dog fouling in public places, according to Councillor David Grant.
The programme is in place in other local authority areas and is one that should be adopted by Wicklow County Council and introduced throughout the county, Cllr Grant said.
The programme involves dog owners signing up to a commitment that they will clean up after their dog, wear a green armband or put the Green Dog Walkers collar on their dog when walking.
Walkers also commit to carrying extra dog waste bags and be happy to be approached to give a dog waste bag to those without. This serves as a community approach to the issue of dog fouling.
“Bray Town Council has made some efforts in the past to highlight the issue and provide bins and signage in public places,” Grant said.
“Despite this the issue continues to be a nuisance and danger to public health
“We have seen that community approaches to other issues have worked well and by raising the profile of responsible dog owners it will serve to bring others into the programme and make dog owners more conscious of their responsibilities.
“This is a low cost way of tackling this problem and is something Wicklow County Council should adopt,” said Cllr Grant.
