TheCity

Tag: uk

  • Worry spreads among Irish XL bulldog owners – will the UK’s ban on the breed cross overseas? 

    By Taylor Mooney 

    Irish XL bully dog owners express concern over the UK’s ban on the breed following Rishi Sunak’s announcement that the dogs are “a danger to the community.” 

    Image: Megan Pryor

    Concern is growing across Ireland and the UK as the Prime Minister calls for the breed to be banned.  

    The Southeast Inner-City Councillor Mannix Flynn expressed his concerns to the Chief Executive at a Dublin Council meeting earlier this week.  

    He asked the Chief Executive to initiate a review of how many XL Bully dogs are now in the Dublin City Council-administrated areas.  

    “Having clear tabs on the number of XL Bully dogs and owners in an area is one way to manage the breed if people are worried about the threat they pose to a community,” said XL Bully dog owner Megan Pryor.  

    Since Sunak’s announcement, Pryor has taken to the social media platform TikTok to showcase her loving “best friend,” Torvi, a 9-month-old XL Bully, who she fears she might lose in future, as no clear information has been given to XL Bully owners since the ban was first announced.  

    “We haven’t got any information from the government about their plans and what is going to happen to us families with XL Bully dogs.  

    “Hopefully, it will be a case that clear regulations will be put into place – including a registry on who owns these dogs so that the government and our communities can know these breeds are owned and existing.” she said.  

    Chief Executive of Dublin City Council spoke for Dublin saying; “There is currently no database in Dublin to provide figures in any given Local Authority Area other than the register of dogs held at the municipal shelters. Microchips are held by 4 separate organisations making it very difficult to get an overall picture of breeds in any particular area.”  

    Pryor explained how the temperament of these dogs is something every owner should get used to, and that owners should be held responsible for their dogs. 

    “It is the owner’s responsibility to know their dogs and how to properly train them. I’m starting to muzzle-train Torvi and I’ll have her wear a muzzle on walks outside. It would be irresponsible of me if I didn’t.”  

    At the Council Meeting, Councillor Mannix Flynn also called for the Chief Executive to outline the potentially dangerous threats of this breed on a community. 

    “The XL Bully is an extremely powerful dog with a perceived tendency towards aggression and for that reason is defined as a Ban Dog under the S.I. No. 123/1991 – Control of Dogs Regulations.” answered the Chief Executive.  

    Image: Megan Pryor

    The UK’s ban on the breed came after several vicious attacks, including one incident where a man was mauled to death in Walsall last month. Sunak said he “shared the nations horror” and that he was working with experts to define the breed.  

    “My son is 8 months old, and Torvi is 9 months old, and they’re besotted by each other,” said Pryor.  

    “[Torvi] is great with my son and will always cuddle up to him when he’s crying or try to get into his bouncer with him, they’re great,” she added.  

    The ban will be implemented in the UK at the end of the year and will see all domestic and criminal gang-related American XL bully dog owners affected.  

  • How does Dublin feel about Great Britain bombing Syria?

    How does Dublin feel about Great Britain bombing Syria?

    Just hours after parliament in London approved Prime Minister David Cameron’s plan to strike at Islamic State militants in Syria, British Tornado bombers conducted their first air strikes.

    The Tornados from the Royal Air Force targeted the IS-controlled Omar oil fields in eastern Syria. The oil fields are used to fund the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

    As the fight moves closer to home, we asked the people of Dublin how they felt about it.

    Follow us on twitter at @NiamhHaskins, @MichelleDardis_ and @StephenFLarkin.

    By Michelle Dardis, Niamh Haskins and Stephen Larkin

     

  • Lead us not into Temptation…

    Lead us not into Temptation…

    Image

    It was Ronald Reagan, of all people, who pointed out that if prostitution was the world’s oldest profession, and politics it’s second oldest, there was often not a lot of difference between the two. Political corruption is as old as the hills, but is it inevitable?

    “You will never get rid of the human tendency to corruption, but it can be combated with better safeguards, more openness and transparency,” said Sean Byrne, a lecturer in economics at Dublin Institute of Technology.

    It’s important not to overstate the problem of corruption in Ireland. Political corruption was at its worst in the years before the Celtic Tiger and Ireland is currently ranked 25th out of 176 in Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking joint 11th with Austria of the E.U member states. Corruption is certainly not as bad as some would have you believe, nor as widespread as in the past.

    “Ireland ranked rather high in the official corruption index in the late nineties and early noughties, but since then levels of corruption have been declining significantly,” said John Gallagher, a PR course director at DIT.

    It is a view echoed by Sean Byrne: “Relative to other countries, we are not doing too badly. A country like Italy, for example, is far more corrupt. The amount of over regulation by the state inevitably leads to corruption, because it is simply impossible to get anything done without it.”

    If Ireland is not anymore corrupt than comparable European countries ,it has traditionally been weak at holding corrupt politicians to account.

    “Parliament in Ireland is weak relative to government, and has no right to launch independent investigations,” said Sean Byrne, “contrast this to the UK, where independent parliamentary inquiries are common, for example, the recent Leveson Enquiry in to the press.”

    It is often said that a society gets the politicians it deserves. Perhaps the public must shoulder some of the blame for allowing corruption to go unpunished in the past.

    Sean Byrne detects an air of ambivalence from people and perhaps a level of tolerance:
    “People don’t like the idea of corruption, but at the same time often have the idea that one day they might benefit from it,” he said.
    But things are moving in the right direction. This July saw the publication of the Protected Disclosures Bill which provides for the protection of whistleblowers in all sectors of the economy. It was a move welcomed by Transparency International Ireland, an organisation dedicated to the eradication of corruption.

    “This could be a hugely important step in the fight against corruption and promotion of good governance in Ireland” said John Devitt, Chief Executive of TI Ireland. “With almost half of all cases of fraud and other forms of wrongdoing exposed by whistle-blowers, it’s time that they enjoy the protection of the law for acting in the public interest,” he added.

    “Our politicians have learnt a bitter lesson,” said Sean Byrne. “All the political parties are now eager to show themselves as full of probity – Fianna Fáil are particularly anxious to show that the era of Haughey and Ahern is behind them.”