A Dublin councillor has called for dog droppings to be DNA tested and a national database to be established after nearly half of local authorities did not issue a single dog fouling fine last year.
New figures show that 14 of the 31 local authorities in the State did not issue any fines for dog fouling in 2024.
Local authorities in Carlow, Cork city, Donegal, Dublin city, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Offaly, Tipperary, Sligo, Westmeath and Wexford did not issue any fines.
There was a total of 48 dog fouling fines issued in total across the State last year.
The data was collected by Vision Ireland, who say dealing with dog waste remains a regular problem for blind and visually impaired people in the country.
Social Democrat Councillor for the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Municipal District John Hurley said a DNA database for dogs is the way to tackle this.
Speaking to RTÉ's Drivetime, Cllr Hurley said: "Currently we have mandatory chipping of dogs … my proposal is that that opportunity be used to take a DNA sample of the dog as well and register that in the national database along with the information on the chip."
"If anyone finds dog poo, that can be traced through a DNA test back to the original dog and their owner," he added.
Cllr Hurley said current legislation requires that somebody witness an owner failing to pick up after their dog and later testify in court.
"It is really difficult to get convictions for dog fouling and that is why so few fines are actually issued," he said.
He said DNA testing was trialled in several cities in continental Europe and in the UK.
"The difficulty with it is that everybody has to buy in … you have to get a critical mass of the population of dogs into your database, so that when you do get their droppings, they can be easily identified," he said.
When asked how he would get irresponsible dog owners to sign up in the first place, Cllr Hurley said there would have to be buy-in from the Veterinary Council of Ireland and that there would need to be a national database that is maintained.
He stressed that the purpose of the scheme would not be to track down dogs and dog owners but to "act as a deterrent".
Cllr Hurley added that the fines would "have to be a lot heftier as well".
