Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the committee for accepting my request for this session, particularly in light of the fact that we are more than a year into the online sale of pets. It is a good time to take stock of the position in this regard. I welcome Mr. Brennan and Ms Bristow. They have done a great deal of work on the online sale and supply of pets and where matters could be improved.

The Dogs Trust's previous research found that 68% of the members of the public questioned were unable to spot an illegal advertisement. Of the 62 advertisements on one online platform, only one was in compliance on a particular day. It appears that welfare groups, organisations like the Dogs Trust and volunteers are doing the work the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine should be doing, which is making sure that existing regulations are enforced. When I raised this issue with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, he confirmed that not a single infringement case had been taken in respect of any online sale advertisements. That is despite five sample cases, ready for prosecution, were sent to him last December. The advice that comes from the Department is for consumers to do their own due diligence. If online platforms do not have access to the information to verify details, then what hope have members of the public?

I will ask the witnesses about the online verifiability and traceability of dogs in particular. In their opinion, is it possible to have a single national dog breeding establishment database detailing the number of breeding bitches and the location of establishments involved? When I looked for this information from various local authorities, it was patchy. In some cases, I had to request it. In others, it was publicly available. The Department published its information but it does not have a live database so one cannot keep track of who is on it and who is not. Can we have something similar to the register for gas fitters whereby it would be possible to go online to verify who the dog breeder is and the level at which he or she is breeding animals?

What is the witnesses' views on microchipping? There are currently four databases in Ireland. Is it possible to have some sort of system where information from the four databases is, again, in a single location, so online platforms can not only verify that this is the microchip of a dog but also the type of dog, its age and status? Those are my first two questions. Is this stuff possible and are there examples we can learn from?