A Kerry County Councillor has called for a portion of the dog licence fee to be ringfenced to compensate farmers who have lost sheep due to dog attacks.

Independent councillor Dan McCarthy raised the issue at the monthly meeting of Kerry County Council yesterday (Monday, April 28).

He urged the local authority to consider putting together the compensation fund from the dog licence fees it collects each year.

Councillor McCarthy, who is also the manager of Kenmare Mart, told Agriland that his motion received support from his fellow councillors.

"I was saying that a small portion of that should be put away to subsidise the cost to the farmer when their sheep are attacked by dogs," he said.

In response to the motion, Kerry County Council said that "the income received from the collection of dog licence fees supports the operation and maintenance of the dog pound, including staff wages, and animal welfare costs".

"This income is only a proportion of the overall cost of providing the animal welfare services within the county. The full costs of the services are met by the local authority through own resource funding.

Therefore, there is no surplus funding available to establish such a compensation fund," the local authority added.

Councillor McCarthy said that he hopes the motion will also highlight the issue of out of control dogs as lambing is underway.

"There's so many dogs roaming and left free now, you don't know what they will do. People who have a dog must have it under control at all times," he said.

The councillor said a major issue is that a lot of the dogs involved in attacks on livestock are not identified.

"That's where the real problem is because there is a chance that the dog will do it again," he said.