Grrrrrrr, Dog Licences, dog wardens, county councils and joined-up activities

mathepac

Registered User
Messages
8,075
I have two dogs and I have always kept them licenced, chipped and with ID tags on their collars. Their names, my name address and mobile number feature. As the bigger of the two appears on the infamous restricted breed list, he gets a muzzle and strong lead in public places.


I was visiting a neighbour this morning, sans mutts, and came home to a note from the dog warden stuffed into the letter-box asking me to produce licences for the dogs at "the pound", 20+ miles distant.

The annoying thing is that I renewed both licences on the 11th October, today is Sat 26th, using the new, digital, on-line whizz-bang technology offered by An Post at https://www.licences.ie/ILAS paid on the spot, on the renewal date. Why doesn't the dog-warden know this? Is this some obscure work-to-rule thing where they won't use phones, tablets or PCs to help with their work, saving diesel, driving time and man-power on a bank holiday weekend? (relax, this warden is a man!)

The basic descriptions of the dogs are accurate enough, "1 large black [and tan], 1 small" so he must have looked over the fence to investigate the noisy greeting I have no doubt he got once he ventured into their part of the 'hood. I tried ringing the fixed-line number on the Section 27(1) C notice to no avail - no mobile number supplied. I'll call again on Tuesday and get an email address to send the receipts An Post issued me. I won't be making a 46-ish mile roundtrip.

p.s. When will An Post employ a database designer who can do 1->M relationships? I have two dogs so I get two of everything; 2 letters in the post to tell me when my current licences expire, 2 physical licences in the post, 2 online transactions, 2 receipts and 2 credit-card transactions. Seems like they automated the old work-flow rather than design new work first. Surprise, surprise.
 
An Post are only the agents who sell dog licences. An Post has nothing to do with the dog warden.
 
To add to your list of hopeless inefficiency:

TV Licence - its just another tax, collect it along with the property tax.

Motor Tax - scrap the nationwide Motor Tax offices - insurance companies can collect it and pay to Revenue. They already collect and pay a government levy, so the mechanism is already there.

Garda Vetting - every single organisation I volunteer for has to vet me separately, and that vetting has to be renewed every 3 years.

Imagine if you had to take a driving test in each province of the country before you were allowed drive there? Thats what our Garda Vetting system is like.
 
Garda Vetting - every single organisation I volunteer for has to vet me separately, and that vetting has to be renewed every 3 years.

Imagine if you had to take a driving test in each province of the country before you were allowed drive there? Thats what our Garda Vetting system is like.

The garda vetting system is much more dysfunctional than that. It only checks the details you give for a criminal conviction. Only murders and rapists who are not also liars are identified.
 
Any conviction is notified.

In any event, its more the administration of these systems that I believe can be easily streamlined.
 
Motor Tax - scrap the nationwide Motor Tax offices - insurance companies can collect it and pay to Revenue. They already collect and pay a government levy, so the mechanism is already there.
I have to give credit where credit is due www.motortax.ie is one of the successes of public service IT projects - the only paper is the tax disc and lead-time from payment to receipt of the disc is 3 or 4 working days. I'm not in the position of owning multiple vehicles so I don't know how that side operates. :)
 
I rang the LA today and was asked for the red 5-digit reference number on the notice the warden left, my name, address and telephone number and the date from the notice. I supplied all the details and was told that the local warden is doing house-to-house calls in the area to try and detect unlicensed dogs. I'm delighted to hear it as it's a problem in the area when unlicensed dogs are let loose at night to crap wherever they like, including grassed play areas for the kids and front lawns which are unfenced.

I asked did he have access to the new data-base of licences before doing the rounds and was told, now get this "no, the girl that does that is doesn't work weekends and is off today", no joking, word for word. I was asked for the licence numbers off the documents I received from An Post and read out the 6 character code printed after "LICENCE NUMBER" on the licence. I was told this was incorrect as there should be a bar-code at the bottom of the licence with a number starting with 000. I assured her the error was hers and asked for someone familiar with the new licensing procedure to ring me. I wait with bated breath.
 
An Post are only the agents who sell dog licences. An Post has nothing to do with the dog warden.
Licences have everything to do with dog-wardens. Driving licences, motor insurance, motor tax, NCTS Certs are sold by multiple suppliers as agents, yet the Guards are concerned with them and have access to all kinds of data sources to verify that they are in order.
 
Back
Top