Madam, - As a temporary resident of Dublin I have taken great pleasure in walking along the sea front between Sutton Cross and Kilbarrack Road. The views of the hills, the sea in all its moods and the ever-changing sky are a delight.
Sadly, if one's eyes are on that sky one's foot is likely to land in one of the mounds of dog-droppings which litter the path.
On a recent walk along this route I counted 72 separate droppings. I was conservative, counting as one any which was smeared by some unwary foot along the concrete, and also counting as one the occasional constipated pellets which, though scattered, clearly came from the same source.
Seventy-two droppings, some of them enormous. And this is in an area where I have never seen a dog without an owner, in an area where the council has provided bins for droppings - though admittedly not very many - in an area which is a public and beautiful walking route. Could someone really stand by and allow his or her dog to perform and walk happily on as if nothing had happened? Obviously, and sadly, yes.
What is needed? Paris had a massive poster campaign years ago to encourage pooches to use the gutter - from which some sort of vacuum cleaners removed the droppings daily. Some Australian councils provide free plastic bags from dispensers near the dropping-bins in areas where dogs are walked. In Britain there are heavy fines. . .
But Dublin needs to do something, so that its beauty-spots do not become dogs' lavatories.
And I do love dogs. . . - Yours, etc.,
SOLVEIG HAMILTON, St Margaret's Avenue, Kilbarrack, Dublin 5.