Woman (23) who died after dog attack at her home in Co Limerick named locally

A woman has died after a dog attack in Co Limerick.

The woman, named locally as 23-year-old Nicole O’Donnell Morey, died near her house in Ballyneety in the early hours of Wednesday.

Ms Morey, originally from Limerick City, died after being mauled by at least one dog.

Armed gardaí responded to the house shortly before midnight Tuesday, and upon encountering a number of aggressive dogs, they destroyed one and restrained three more. It was suspected that one or all of the dogs were on a restricted dog breeding list that requires dogs on that list to be muzzled.

Locals say Ms Morey was attacked by at least one of her own dogs, understood to be an XL bully, a large version of an American pit bull.

Ms Morey died at the scene despite the best efforts of paramedics who treated her there. Her body was removed to University Hospital Limerick where a postmortem was to be carried out.

Her sister Jolene posted on Facebook: “My heart is shattered once again on your birthday. I only hung up on you 2 seconds before I really tried my best to help. I’m so sorry Nicole I love you so much it feels like a bad dream.”

Ms Morey’s granduncle, Anthony O’Donnell (58), said distressed family members telephoned him and delivered the news.

“She was out for her birthday, she was 23, and, she went home, opened the hall door to go in home when the dog attacked her, jumped out on top of her and attacked her,” Mr O’Donnell said.

“By the time the gardaí got there, they (the dogs) were mauling her, the gardaí couldn’t really get them off of her, they had to shoot the dog to get him off of her, that’s what I’m hearing from family members that are ringing me,” he said.

Paying tribute, Mr O’Donnell described his grandniece as “a lovely girl, with a great heart, would do you a good turn rather than any turn”.

“She was a decent girl, quiet, she kept to herself.”

Family friend Fr Richard Davern led prayers at St Mary’s Church, Athlunkard, Limerick, in memory of the deceased.

“There are no words to really describe the absolute horror of this. God love them,” Fr Davern said.

“Everyone is just shocked, it’s horrific, absolutely horrific,” he said. “I spoke to one of her former schoolteachers this morning and they said (Nicole) had a lovely personality.

“They said she had ambitions to go back to college and train as a SNA (Special Needs Assistant) and into education, so she had ambitions, the poor girl, God love her, and God love all the first responders and emergency services worker who came upon it and have to deal with the fallout of it.”

Gardaí attached to the Garda Scenes of Crime Unit combed areas outside and inside the house on Wednesday.

Local gardaí had sealed off an entrance gate at the house as well as access to a lane running alongside the property.

The two-storey house located on a country road between the villages of Ballyneety and Fedamore, is situated about 18km from Limerick City.

Locals in the rural hinterland also expressed their “shock”.

Gardaí issued a media alert asking people not to engage in sharing a video-linked to the fatal incident with others online.

“An Garda Síochána is aware of footage of this incident in circulation and out of respect for the deceased, would ask the public and the media not to share these videos,” read a notice from the Garda Press Office.

Family and friends said they were planning an event in Limerick on Thursday night where purple and yellow balloons would be released in Ms Morey’s memory.

Several hours before the fatal dog attack on Ms Morey, gardaí had issued local media in Limerick with an alert about dog attacks and highlighted how a nine-year-old boy received “facial injuries” in a dog attack in Limerick City on May 29th.

In that advisory notice to the media, Sgt Ber Leetch, Crime Prevention Officer, Henry Street Garda station warned people to “protect your dog but also protect any people it may come in contact with”.

“You must know your dog and know if they are on the restricted dog breeds list, look at the dogs.ie website if you are not sure,” Sgt Leetch said.

“There are rules that must be followed, restricted breeds of dogs must wear a muzzle in public, be on a short lead, wear a collar with owners’ information on it and the person controlling the dog must be over 16 years of age.”

“These rules are in place to protect everybody including the dog.”

“A dog in the city centre bit a nine-year-old boy last Wednesday, 29 May, at 20.30 in the evening, and the boy had to go to hospital to be treated for facial injuries.”

“Nobody wants this to happen so be responsible for your dog,” she had warned, just hours before the fatal dog attack that claimed Ms Morey’s life.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Roxboro Road Garda station on (061) 214 340, the Garda Confidential line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda station.

Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys, who has responsibility for dog legislation, said she was “absolutely appalled” by the news.

A Government-established group chaired by retired Deputy Garda Commissioner John Twomey is examining the area of increased dog controls.

There are no banned breeds in Ireland but a number of breeds have restrictions attached to them. The breeds are American pit bull terrier, English bull terrier, Staffordshire bull terriers, bull mastiff, Doberman pinscher, German shepherd (Alsatian), Rhodesian ridgeback, Rottweiler, Japanese Akita, Japanese Tosa and the Bandog.

Ms Humphreys said she has asked the group to examine the restricted breeds list, in line with actions being taken in Britain and Northern Ireland.

“I am committed to working with colleagues across Government in taking whatever action is necessary to strengthen our dog control laws,” she said.

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said she feels there should be a ban on some breeds of dogs especially where there is a pattern of a specific breed being dangerous.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s News at One, Ms McEntee acknowledged that there was a view among some that there were varying reasons for how a dog could become vicious.

“But I think where there is a pattern and particularly where you see in other countries, where there is a pattern with particular dogs, then we do need to look at whether we need to go further here, but also we have to take into account that some of the rules that apply.”

She added: “We need to do whatever we can to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again. This is really, really devastating.”

“This is just a really horrific and, very upsetting incident to have happened. My thoughts are with the poor young woman’s family, with her wider community. This is not something that we see happen very often. And I just think it’s very distressing for everybody involved here.”

Independent Limerick councillor Frankie Daly said he had warned previously about dangerous dogs especially as a ban on some breeds in the UK is seeing them being brought to Ireland. “I’d be calling on the Government to ban these breeds,” he said.