No bark about the beach ban

The anticipated outcry over the proposed ban on dogs having access to Donegal's 14 Blue Flag beaches has not materialised.

Donegal County Council took the proposal to public consultation in May last year in order to make bye-laws to restrict access at certain times of the day.

The closing date was October 4 but no submissions were received either in writing or by e-mail. There was a submission received on November 9 outside the prescribed timeframe and even though it was late, the council allowed some leeway and responded to the writer saying it would be considered as an objection.

The objector raised other issues not relevant to the proposed bye-laws but demanded to know why the ban was coming into force.

In its reply, the council pointed out the bye-laws were required to ensure compliance and retention of the Blue Flag awards.

All this now means is arrangements will now come into force to allow dog owners to continue to enjoy beaches while limiting dog access to certain areas of certain beaches at certain times during the bathing season. Dogs will not be permitted in the Blue Flag Area of the beach from 12pm to 7pm (June 1 to September 15 annually). Blue Flag beaches will continue to allow dogs access to all areas of the entire beach outside these hours.

At two of the smaller beaches, Bundoran and Shrove, the patrol zone basically covers the majority of the Blue Flag beach so dogs will be prohibited from these locations during Lifeguard hours (12pm to 7pm) over the entire bathing season. There are no such restrictions on any of the other many beaches in the county.

The ban was copper-fastened at last Monday's meeting of the council in Lifford.

Cllr Nicholas Crossan asked how these new bye-laws would be managed.

"In theory a great idea, in practice, not at all practical. We cannot manage these bye-laws, we can't even stop these dogs fouling on the streets or walks in towns and villages so how are we going to manage it on the beaches?"

Cllr Maire Therese Gallagher proposed they accept the new bye-laws saying they spent hours debating this at the Strategic Policy Committee level and a lot of different opinions were debated during hours of discussion on this but it was acknowledged if they don't implement the bye-laws they could lose Blue Flag status.

"We will have issues with this, we're going to have to manage it and build and implement the policy as we go along," she said.

This proposal was seconded by Cllr Niamh Kennedy.