Lyttle supports Royal Mail’s ‘Dog Awareness Week’

Alliance East Belfast MLA Chris Lyttle, who is Chair of the Assembly Group on Postal Issues, has given his support to the Royal Mail’s ‘Dog Awareness Week’. 70 staff were attacked by dogs in Northern Ireland in the past year, which is down from 89 in the previous year. ‘Dog Awareness Week’ is taking place this week. The aim of this campaign is to raise awareness of these types of incidents.

Chris Lyttle MLA said: “I would like to offer my full support to the ‘Dog Awareness Week’. Royal Mail has a duty to deliver to over 700,000 addresses, however they will not be able to do their job if their staff are injured by dogs.

“I welcome the reduced number of incidents in the past year, but 70 attacks is still too many. I hope that by highlighting this issue, we can look to further reduce the number of these incidents.

“The Alliance Party has sought to update our dangerous dogs laws and we welcomed the amendment which was passed in 2011 that made micro chipping a compulsory part of the licencing process and extended certain laws on attacks to private property. However there is more to do to encourage responsibility among all dog owners.”

ENDS