The High Court has temporarily paused a new regulation due to come into force tomorrow that would have allowed agents for the Minister for Rural Development to seize or euthanise XL Bully dogs in the care of animal welfare organisations.
Mr Justice John Jordan granted the injunction after noting the lack of a review mechanism in the regulations over a dog warden's assessment of the dog breed in advance of it being euthanised.
However, the judge refused an application from the charities petitioning the court to order a second injunction on the regulatory ban preventing the dog shelters and relevant bodies from re-homing the dogs from tomorrow.
It will remain in force until 27 February when a full hearing on a challenge to the new regulations for the breed will take place.
Mr Justice Jordan said he was making the ruling while being conscious of public safety and in the context of dog attacks that have left people with irreparable and even fatal injuries.
He granted the injunction after an application by six animal welfare charities.
However, the judge refused an application from the charities petitioning the court to order a second injunction on the regulatory ban preventing the dog shelters and relevant bodies from re-homing the dogs from tomorrow.
The shelters and charities with XL Bully dogs already in their facilities have until tomorrow to re-home or export them.
Clients 'extremely concerned' with public safety
At the High Court today, Sunniva McDonagh SC told Mr Justice Jordan that her clients were "extremely concerned" with public safety and that "any suggestion otherwise - to not protect public safety - is misguided".
Counsel said "we are all horrified by dog attacks" but urged the court to use its "clear authority" to grant the interlocutory injunction.
Counsel said there was concern that there is no review procedure in the regulations for dogs misidentified as XL Bullys and then put down.
"To keep the dogs alive is crucial, that is the great fear my clients have" she said.
Remy Farrell SC, for the Minister for Rural and Community Development, said there had been "significant" recent dog attacks but acknowledged the possibility of error in identifying an XL Bully dog.
Mr Farrell said the jurisprudence of the court regarding putting a stay on statutory provisions was usually "very sparingly exercised".
'Well-intentioned people on both sides of argument' - Judge
Mr Justice Jordan said there was "something illogical" about the legislation not providing any "review mechanism" on a warden's assessment of the breed of the dog in advance of it being euthanised.
Mr Justice Jordan said he did not see "any real prejudice allowing animals to stay alive until the case is fully determined", adding that in the interim the dogs would be cared for by "responsible people" who were volunteers.
"You cannot bring back a dead dog to life," said the judge.
"A patently wrong decision could result in the death of a dog who should not be euthanised, when a challenge or review would have avoided that," he said.
The judge granted the interlocutory injunction for the plaintiffs but stressed that there were "well motivated and well-intentioned people on both sides of the argument".
235 certificates of exemption issued - latest figures
Meanwhile, new figures show that 235 certificates of exemption have been issued so far.
In order to keep an XL Bully type, owners would either have a certificate of exemption or have proof they have applied.
The certificate confirms that the dog is licensed, neutered and microchipped.
Among those who applied and received their exemption is Kildare woman Kerry-Ann Pollock.
She has registered three-year-old Parky and six-month-old Tilly, but said she was not in favour of the new regime.
"I feel that the dogs are very much being stereotyped, and the root cause of the problem is not really being dealt with. It's a knee-jerk reaction," she said.
"I think dog breeding and backyard breeding is actually the root cause of the problem. I think the wrong end of the lead has been blamed for problems.
"I think responsible owners will always do the right thing, and I think irresponsible owners won't," she added.
"If somebody says that every male from ten with black hair could potentially commit a murder, we're not going to issue the notice to exterminate them all, and that's effectively all we've done," Ms Pollock said.
Ms Pollock has nothing but praise for her dogs, saying they have a great character and are very much part of her family. They are "sweethearts," she said.
She added that she has "huge empathy" for anyone who has been attacked by a dog, but asks, "Do you blame the dog, or is it the owner of the dog who needs to be held to account?"
"Not everybody should have a big dog. There are certain things you need to know, how to handle it," she said.
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Both of her dogs are rescues and she fears people will end up abandoning their bully-type dogs rather than register them.
Anecdotally, at least, it seems that may be happening.
Alex Corrigan is a volunteer with the My Lovely Horse animal rescue, located outside Enfield, Co Meath.
"We've seen a huge increase in bull breeds, not necessarily XLs, but people are trying to re-home their bull breeds, because people are panicking because of the XL ban," she said.
"With this ban coming in, they're just being discarded like rubbish," she added.
In the lead up to tomorrow's deadline, she said, the issue is becoming more pronounced.
"Now it's every day. It's every single day. We're getting messages in of bull breeds that are being dumped around the country.
"They're being left in fields … We have fantastic fosters, but unfortunately, a lot of people won't foster a bull breed," she added.
Ms Corrigan said that at one point she had around 30 bully breeds on the farms; currently they have seven.
"I think the banning of a breed is not going to work. It hasn't worked in other countries. It's not going to work here either.
"Do I think the XL bully type dog will go away? No, I don't. I think there'll be another hybrid that will be mixed with that type of dog," she said.
She also thinks that wardens will have difficulties identifying actual XLs from other bully breeds - and worries that could lead to the wrong dogs being taken.
But she said, her worst case scenario is bully dogs being "continuously dumped" and rescue centres at full capacity, not being able to help.
However, the department said that public safety is at the centre of why the new rules are being introduced.
In November 2022, Alejandro Mizsan, then aged nine, sustained significant facial injuries after he was attacked by an XL bully while playing with friends.
In June of last year, 23-year-old Nicole Morey was fatally attacked by her own dogs, which included an XL bully.
Two months later, a baby girl was hospitalised in August after being attacked by an XL bully dog.
From last October, it became illegal to breed, sell, rehome or import the dogs.
Additional reporting Conor Hunt, Orla O'Donnell
