Taoiseach questions why people own dangerous breeds of dogs following attack on nine-year-old
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Taoiseach Micheál Martin has questioned why people own dangerous breeds of dogs telling the Dáil “it is time to go back to the drawing board” in terms of legislation.
He was speaking after a nine-year-old boy was attacked by a pit bull on Sunday in Co Wexford and was left with life-changing injuries.
Alejandro Mizsan was playing on a green area of the Old Forge Road estate in Enniscorthy, Wexford, on Sunday when he was attacked by the dog at about 4pm.
Alejandro's brother Raul said they were told the nine-year-old "will never be the same again" following the attack.
"His face is totally destroyed. His lip is gone.”
Raul said his brother's injuries also extend to his leg and stomach and he is not able to speak.
A man was arrested on Tuesday morning in connection with the incident.
In the Dáil, Mr Martin said he questioned why people are keeping such aggressive breeds of dogs, saying one child being severely injured “is one child too many”.
Responding to Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon, who asked whether laws need to be changed to stop this from happening, Mr Martin made clear his “shock and anger”.
He said his thoughts were with Alejandro and his family after what he said was “a horrific ordeal”.
“It's quite shocking. And I think all of us are very disturbed by what has transpired here and, and a degree of anger as well,” he said.
Mr Martin said he did not understand why there was a need for such dangerous breeds of dogs.
“I think we should go back to the drawing board. I don't have the full panoply of legislation that's in front of me. Because what has happened is one child too many. And we all have pets. There's no need for this,” he said.
He said the issue needed to be seriously examined and a cross-departmental approach would be used.
Mr Martin said the first thing was enforcement, to make sure that enforcement was in place and then to look at new legislation.
Mr Dillon said the situation “horrified the nation” and that between 2016 and 2021 there were 1,700 attacks by so-called dangerous dogs on humans.
He asked how can such dogs be in public places without muzzles or leads and wanted action to make such negligent owners more accountable.
A GoFundMe campaign set up to support Alejandro has since raised more than €113,000.