The mother of a schoolboy who was bitten on the face by a police dog last week has appealed to the Garda not to destroy the animal.
Dubliner Gerard Thompson (13) was attacked by the Garda-trained German Shepherd during a school visit last Friday to Kilmainham Garda Station. He received eight stitches for wounds to his left cheek and nose after the dog lashed out without warning.
But the boys's mother, Ms Fiona Thompson, from Jobstown, Tallaght, said she didn't blame the animal for the incident. "Dogs are unpredictable at times. It is the people who take care of them who are responsible."
She said: "I'd feel very bad if the dog was put down, and I don't want that to occur. I have dogs, and it would be my fault, rather than theirs, if they bit someone else."
The family, which is planning to sue the Garda over the attack, believes the dog should have been muzzled during the tour of Kilmainham Station, where the Dublin Garda Dog Unit is based.
"The way the gardaí are doing these school trips is a worry. They need to look into it for safety reasons," said Ms Thompson.
"If I had this dog on the street without a muzzle I would be in trouble. Yet they have it around children without one."
Of the threatened legal action, she remarked: "I want to stop other people from getting hurt. That is why I am doing this. Gerard was very close to losing an eye, and some other kid might not be so lucky."
A Garda spokesman said the dog in question had been taken out of service pending the results of an investigation, headed by an inspector of the Dublin South Central Division. Describing the incident as "very unfortunate", the spokesman noted the dog lived with a Garda handler and was used to contact with children and other people.
"Generally, our dogs are very well checked, and if there is any sign of aggression it would not be accepted," he said.
Ms Thompson said her son, who has Down's Syndrome was "very shaken" by the incident. "He hasn't been himself since. He can explain to me what happened but he won't speak about how he feels."
She added she herself was shocked when she received a phone call to say her son had been bitten. "When I got to the station Gerard's eye-lid was in half, and there was a tooth-mark under his chin."
Describing what happened, she said: "Gerard asked the handler could he kiss the dog and the handler said 'yes, no problem'. But when he bent down to kiss him, the dog bit him on the face."
The boy was treated for his injuries at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, to which he will return today to get his stitches out.
Garda dogs are exempt from regulations which require that "dangerous" breeds, such as Alsatians and Rottweilers, are muzzled and placed on a strong lead while in public places.
Canines used by the Dublin Harbour Police, State Airport Police and in rescue and guide dog operations, are also exempt from the Control of Dogs Regulations, 1998, which were introduced following a number of attacks on children by privately-owned dogs.
The breeds covered by the regulations include the Bull Terrier, Doberman and German Shepherd (Alsatian).
The Control of Dogs Act, 1986 provides for the destruction of a dog which "is proved to have caused damage in an attack on any person, or to have injured livestock". Such a "dangerous dog" can be destroyed by order of the District Court following a complaint being made "by any interested person", according to Section 22 of the Act.
A judge will assess whether an attack was unprovoked or otherwise, as well as the injuries involved, before deciding whether or not the animal should be put down. Regardless of the judge's decision, it is open to the injured party to sue the dog-owner for damages under Section 21 of the Act. "It shall not be necessary for the person seeking such damages to show a previous mischievous propensity in the dog, or the owner's knowledge of such previous propensity, or to show that such injury or damage was attributable to neglect on the part of the owner," the section states.
According to one DSPCA inspector, most biting cases do not end up in court as owners tend to take a "moral" decision to destroy an animal after an attack.
