Seagulls are big news this week, with the story of a pet dog killed by a group of gulls leading to British Prime Minister David Cameron called for a 'national conversation' about seagulls.

Cameron's words echo those of Fianna Fáil senator Ned O’Sullivan who last year said Dublin seagulls had “lost the run of themselves”. O'Sullivan was ridiculed in some quarters for the comment – but today’s reaction from listeners to Newstalk Breakfast shows he’s far from alone in calling for a plan to deal with the birds in certain areas.

Newtalk Breakfast raised the issue of the seagull situation on this morning’s show and the listeners responded in huge numbers, sending us their stories of seagull aggression and irritation.

How to deal with menacing birds?

Breakfast spoke to Richard Faulkner , technical field consultant with Rentokil to ask what can be done to handle, and hopefully avoid, a seagull problem. Richard explained to us what we need to do to avoid attracting the birds, why they might sometimes attack, and why it is illegal to harm a seagull in all but the most exceptional cases.