Council in Waterford told that dog warden powers are limited

A second dog warden has been recruited in Waterford.

Dawn Wallace, Waterford Council Senior Executive Officer, said at a meeting this week that the new warden is due to start in mid-October. She added: “We are advised that the department has plans to make further allocations for more dog wardens in the future.” 

Cllr John Pratt enquired at the meeting as to what powers dog wardens have. “Unfortunately what the warden can do is very limited," he said.

He added that a recent incident in Waterford involved a dog which was freely roaming around a local housing estate, creating concerns amongst locals.

Ms Wallace responded: “We have some education around dogs planned by our comms team, so maybe we need to do a little more work and think about how we explain more clearly to the public what our powers are under the controlled dogs act, because people often think we have greater powers that we actually do.”