Councillors will vote tomorrow on proposals to ban dogs from public beaches between the hours of 11am and 6pm during the summer months.

The proposal will be considered alongside similar by-laws which would see kite-surfing and loud music also banned from bathing areas in north Co Dublin.

The council had initially hoped to ban dogs from beaches on every weekend throughout the year. However, following representations from the public, this proposal was scaled down to cover only the 12-week period between 1 June and 31 August. If councillors support the proposal, dogs would be banned from beaches seven days a week for that period.

A spokesman for the council said the proposal was drafted in response to complaints from the public over dogs "running wild" on beaches in the Fingal area. The council spokesman said that the ban was a "balanced response" to this problem.

The proposed ban would be enforced on some of Dublin's top beaches, such as those located in Portmarnock, Donabate, Skerries, Rush and Sutton. Under the plan, anyone found with a dog on these beaches during the hours between 11am and 6pm over the summer months would face a fine of 120.

However, the proposal has met with opposition from some councillors who will vote on the issue tomorrow. Councillor Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) said the proposal was "like cracking a nut with a sledgehammer".

"I have never had one complaint about dogs on beaches, " O'Brien told the Sunday Tribune this weekend. "People walk their dogs on beaches in Fingal all year round and that is their right. Nappies on beaches are actually a bigger problem than dogs, but that doesn't mean we are going to ban children from beaches."

Councillor Robert Kelly of the Green Party called on the council to "employ more dog wardens instead of penalising everybody unnecessarily".

Last year, Clare County Council attempted to push through proposals to ban dogs from the county's beaches during the summer months but was forced to drop the proposals after councillors and members of the public objected.

Some local councillors said the proposal would criminalise responsible dog owners. The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) had also voiced its opposition to the proposal.

The proposed new Fingal by-laws would also ban jetskis from bathing areas, along with loud music and kite-surfing.