Animal welfare groups will take part in a protest in St Stephen's Green in Dublin tomorrow against the Government's new rules around XL bully dogs, which are set to come in from 1 October.
XL bully dogs will be banned when the new legislation fully comes into force.
Under the first phase of the new rules next month, it will be illegal to breed, sell, rehome or import XL bully dogs.
In the second phase, which will be introduced on 1 February 2025, there will be a ban on owning an XL bully dog, unless the owner has a Certificate of Exemption.
The legislation is being introduced following a number of recent attacks.
Brenda Fitzpatrick with the Working Animal Guardians Rescue said the banning of any breed of dog "simply does not work".
Speaking to RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, she said dogs of any breed are less likely to attack if they are socialised, trained and taken care of.
"There's a huge welfare, moral and ethical issue here. Dog pounds and rescues are overflowing with different types of bull breeds, including the XL bullies, and once 1 October comes in these dogs cannot be rehomed so they will basically be condemned to death," she said.
"We're talking about a whole population of dogs here that have done absolutely nothing wrong only they have the unfortunate luck in life to be owned by the wrong people."
Speaking on the same programme, veterinary officer with Leitrim County Council James Madden said the demand for this type of dog "has collapsed" over the last several months and it is already difficult to rehome them.
He said people do not want them and many owners are surrendering them.
"There is a difficulty now rehoming them, irrespective of the regulations on 1 October," Mr Madden said, adding that responsible owners can apply for a certificate of exemption.
Ms Fitzpatrick said that while she supports this measure, her concern is for the dogs who "will be dumped".
She said one of the "major issues" is the misidentification of XL bullies.
"This is something that we've seen in rescue centres and pounds across Ireland - the misidentification of these dogs because the XL bully is a hybrid dog," she said.
Mr Madden said dog wardens would be trained to clearly identify which dogs are XL bullies and which are not, adding that they hope to publish guidelines early next week.
