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Dangerous Dogs Legislation

Answer

The dangerous dogs legislation is enforced in Northern Ireland by district councils, My officials have written to councils and will over the coming months be liaising with councils and other interested parties to ascertain their views on the current legislation. Following the outcome of these discussions I will consider if further amendments to the legislation are required.District councils provide statistical information to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development with respect to enforcement of the Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 (as amended), including the number of prosecutions taken for offences under the legislation. However, prior to 2006 these returns did not specifically distinguish prosecutions regarding dangerous dogs from other prosecutions taken under the legislation. The information is included at table 1 as follows.

Table 1: prosecutions under the Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 (figures supplied to DARD by district councils)
	Minor offences(e.g. fouling, licensing)	Serious offences (e.g. attacks by dogs)	Dangerous dogs	Annual total
2002	160	46	—	206
2003	265	64	—	329
2004¹	177	51	—	228
2005¹	139	35	—	174
2006²	47	18	³5	³71
¹ Prior to 2006 returns did not specifically distinguish prosecutions with respect to dangerous dogs.
² Figures only available to the end of June 2006.
³ Figures include six cases pending.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

115931; 455 c1092-4W

Session

2006-07

Subjects

Dogs Northern Ireland

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk