Two sisters have been left in shock after a seagull 'attacked' them in Dublin over the weekend.

The women were eating chips with their children in Howth Harbour on Sunday afternoon when a gull swooped in.

Both were left with cuts to their mouths. 

One of the sisters, Laura Grehan said she required a tetanus shot and antibiotics after the attack.

"If I was listening to this I would think it was actually a wind-up," she said.

"You know, getting hit in the face by a seagull."

"The seagulls head [...] actually hit the side of my nose and I heard this crack.

"I was in shock, I was like, 'oh my god' and then my son, who is seven, he got really upset when he saw all the blood."

The issue of 'raucous' seagulls has been raised in the Seanad on a number of occasions in recent years.

Fianna Fáil's Ned O'Sullivan even gained widespread media attention after claiming seagulls in the city centre had "lost the run of themselves."

Ms Grehan said she couldn't believe what happened over the weekend:

"It was so shocking - and this is when we were phoning [the doctor], I actually kind of took a fit of laughing, [I thought] they are going to think this is a joke," she said.

"I mean you are ringing up and saying a seagull bit my lip like.

"So it was just crazy but yeah it was really shocking."

You can listen back to Ms Grehan's appearance on Newstalk Breakfast here: