XL Bully Ban Ireland: The 2024 and 2025 Rules Explained

Ireland's XL Bully ban is the biggest change to dog law in the State in a generation, and it landed in two stages rather than one. From 1 October 2024 it became illegal to import, breed, sell or rehome an XL Bully anywhere in the Republic of Ireland. From 1 February 2025 it became illegal to own or keep one at all, unless that individual dog was already covered by a Certificate of Exemption issued before that date.

Both of those dates come from a single statutory instrument, S.I. No. 491/2024, the Control of Dogs (XL Bully) Regulations 2024, made under section 19 of the Control of Dogs Act 1986. A later instrument, S.I. No. 214/2025, added a seizure review and appeal process from 9 June 2025. This page sets out what the ban actually prohibits, who could be exempted and who can no longer be, the conditions attached to a certificate, and what happens when a dog is seized.

Information last verified on 20 July 2026. This page is general legal information for the Republic of Ireland, not legal advice.

What the XL Bully ban actually prohibits

Regulation 5(1) of S.I. No. 491/2024 prohibits a person, from 1 October 2024, from owning, keeping, purchasing, disposing of whether by sale or otherwise, abandoning, allowing to stray, breeding or importing an XL Bully. Ownership was inside the prohibition from day one, so the common description of the first stage as a supply chain measure is not what the drafting says.

What made the first stage feel like a supply chain measure was Regulation 5(2), which carved three classes of dog already in the State out of Regulation 5(1). Regulation 5(3) then withdrew that carve out with effect from 1 February 2025 for any dog that was not the subject of a Certificate of Exemption issued before that date and still valid. From that date the full prohibition, including owning and keeping, applies to every uncertified XL Bully.

A common misreading is that the ownership ban needed its own new statutory instrument in 2025. It did not. Regulation 2 set the commencement of the Regulations at 1 October 2024, and Regulation 5(3) carried its own later trigger date within the same instrument. The 2025 instrument that did follow, S.I. No. 214/2025, deals only with what happens after a dog is seized.

The two dates in one instrument

What counts as an XL Bully?

Regulation 4 defines an XL Bully as a dog that substantially meets the physical conformation standard set out in Schedule 1 to the Regulations. A dog under 18 months old is caught if it has the potential to meet that standard once it reaches 18 months.

The headline measurement in Schedule 1 is height at the withers: from 51 cm (20 inches) for an adult male and from 48 cm (19 inches) for an adult female. Schedule 1 then sets out prescribed characteristics for the head, muzzle, teeth, neck, forequarters, body, hindquarters, feet, tail and coat.

There is no official register that tells an owner whether a particular dog is caught. Citizens Information puts it plainly: it is the owner's own responsibility to work out whether the dog is covered by the ban. A vet is the practical first port of call for anyone unsure.

Which dogs could be grandfathered

Regulation 5(2) set out three classes of dog that could apply for a Certificate of Exemption:

• a dog owned by a person or a relevant body immediately before 1 October 2024;
• a dog born on or after 1 October 2024 and before 10 December 2024;
• a dog acquired from a rescue organisation or charity (a relevant body) between 1 October 2024 and 1 February 2025.

The 10 December 2024 cut-off nobody talks about

That second class contains the sleeper date in the whole scheme. A dog born on or after 10 December 2024 falls outside every grandfathering class, so it can never be the subject of a Certificate of Exemption. There is no application, no late route and no discretion.

The same date reappears in the appeal rules. Under Regulation 11(7), where a review confirms that a seized dog is an XL Bully, the owner may apply for a certificate within 28 days of the decision only if the dog was born before 10 December 2024. For a dog born on or after that date, confirming it is an XL Bully is the end of the road.

The application window closed on 31 January 2025

Applications opened on 1 October 2024 and the Department was clear that applications would not be accepted after 31 January 2025. That deadline has passed and has not been reopened.

Two narrow qualifications survive. First, under Regulation 5(4), a person whose application was made before 1 February 2025 but not yet decided was protected while it was pending, with the prohibition biting only the day after determination. Second, Regulation 6 allows a late application by a returning emigrant who owned the dog before 1 October 2024, with the 1 February 2025 date read instead as three months after the person returns to the State. Citizens Information lists the proofs typically accepted, including a foreign dog licence, a foreign microchip record, veterinary records or a purchase receipt.

What a Certificate of Exemption required

Under Regulation 7(2)(a), all three of the following had to be in place before a certificate could issue:

1. A dog licence. A valid licence under section 3(1) of the Control of Dogs Act 1986, or an exemption under section 5.
2. A microchip. Compliant with the Microchipping of Dogs Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 63/2015).
3. Neutering. Confirmed by a vet in the Schedule 4 form, or confirmation that the dog is medically unfit to be neutered.

Photo identification and proof of address were also required with the application form. There was no fee for the certificate itself.

Is insurance required? No, and this is where UK advice misleads

A great deal of online guidance tells Irish owners they need third party liability insurance for an XL Bully. That is United Kingdom law, and it is not part of the Irish scheme. Nothing in S.I. No. 491/2024 imposes an insurance condition, either to obtain a certificate or to keep one valid.

Insurance is still sensible, because section 21 of the Control of Dogs Act 1986 makes a dog owner strictly liable in damages for an attack on a person or injury to livestock. But it is a commercial decision, not a regulatory condition, and no certificate can be refused or revoked for the absence of a policy.

The conditions that come with a certificate

Regulation 8(1) attaches continuing conditions to every certificate holder:

• Keep the dog at the owner's own home address. The dog may be elsewhere for no more than 30 days in total in any year.
• Re-apply for a new certificate within 30 days of a change of residence.
• Where the named owner dies or becomes incapacitated, the new owner must apply within 3 months.
• Notify the local authority within 30 days if the dog dies or is exported.
• In a public place, the dog must be securely muzzled so that it cannot bite, and led on a sufficiently strong chain or leash not exceeding 2 metres by a person over 16 who is capable of controlling it.
• The premises must be appropriate for the dog's welfare and secured against escape.
• Allow a dog warden to read the microchip on reasonable request.
• Produce the certificate within 10 days of a dog warden's request.
• Where neutering was deferred only because the dog was under 18 months, neuter as soon as practicable after that and send the confirmation to the local authority.

Regulation 8(4) is the sting. A certificate ceases to be valid if the owner breaches the home address condition, the change of residence condition or the new owner condition. Once the certificate lapses, the dog is an uncertified XL Bully and the ownership prohibition applies to it.

Penalties for breaching the ban

The Regulations create no penalty of their own. Breach of a regulation made under section 19 is an offence under section 27(1)(f) of the Control of Dogs Act 1986, and section 27(2) sets the penalty on summary conviction.

The Act as enacted reads 1,500 pounds. Following decimal conversion and the Fines Act 2010, that translates into a class C fine of not more than €2,500. The maximum is therefore a fine of up to €2,500, or imprisonment for up to 3 months, or both. The Department states the same figures.

Seizure, destruction and the 2025 appeal route

Regulation 9 gives a dog warden power, on and after 1 February 2025, to seize and detain an XL Bully that is not the subject of a Certificate of Exemption, and to destroy it or cause it to be destroyed in a humane manner. The Department notes that a seizure may involve both the dog warden and An Garda Síochána.

S.I. No. 214/2025 built a review process around that power from 9 June 2025:

• On seizing a dog he or she believes to be an XL Bully, the warden must serve a Schedule 5 notice on the owner.
• The owner may request a review within 21 days of that notice, using the Schedule 7 form. Where the dog was seized from someone other than the owner, the 21 days does not begin until 14 days after the seizure.
• On receiving a review request, the local authority must return the dog to the owner pending the outcome, subject to interim muzzling, lead, secure premises and no-disposal conditions.
• The reviewer must be a veterinary practitioner registered under Part 4 of the Veterinary Practice Act 2005, who is not a dog warden and had no involvement in the seizure.
• The decision must issue within 28 days after the 21 day window expires, by way of a Schedule 8 notice.
• There is no second review of the same dog.

What the ban did not change

The XL Bully is the only breed of dog banned outright in Ireland. Eleven other types remain restricted rather than banned, and the restricted breeds list itself was not amended when the ban came in. Those rules, the licence fees, microchipping duties and on-the-spot fines are covered in our guide to dog control laws in Ireland.

For other everyday offences that catch people out, including what you may lawfully carry in a public place, see our page on knife law in Ireland. A full index of our Irish guides is on the Ireland law hub.

Frequently asked questions

This page is general information about the law in the Republic of Ireland and is not legal advice. Enforcement of the Control of Dogs Acts is a matter for your local authority and its dog wardens, and prosecutions are heard in the District Court. If your dog may be caught by the ban, or has been seized, speak to a solicitor and to a registered veterinary practitioner without delay.