There has been a call for a far greater effort to be made to encourage dog owners to clean up after their pets on public roads with several complaints being made about the animals soiling footpaths.
Cllr John O’Donoghue told a meeting of Killarney Municipal District Council that the issue has been brought to his attention by many residents in Woodlawn and on the Muckross Road.
He said bins for dog waste no longer have disposal bags attached to them and the dispensers seem to have disappeared.
“I believe that, where possible, it should be made as convenient as possible for people to clean up after their pets and providing bags would greatly help this. I ask that these dispensers be reinstated as soon as possible,” Cllr O’Donoghue said.
Council officials said all such bins within Killarney town are monitored for usage and as the bin previously located at Woodlawn Cross had been underutilised, it was moved to an alternative location to maximise its use.
The council added that, at present, there are two bin bag dispenser units located between the Countess Road Roundabout to the end of the jarvey lane where it enters the national park.
Cllr O’Donoghue also raised the issue of an increase in the amount of dog fouling issues in Barraduff where the population is growing rapidly.
“There is an excellent tidy village committee out there who do wonderful work but this is a very unnecessary addition to their workload,” he said.
“The issue is not with the four-legged creatures but rather their two-legged owners and some signage might encourage a little civic pride in them and get them to clean up after their pets,” Cllr O’Donoghue remarked.
The council said it will erect signage to remind the dog owners of their responsibilities and refer the recent complaints to the environment department.
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