Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am more au faitwith the position regarding dogs than horses. I must take issue with one of the comments made.

There was a warning about linking the dog licence and the microchip in terms of proof of ownership and increasing cost. A dog licence costs €20. The current online system has the space for the microchip. It is the law that the person selling the dog must microchip it. There is no extra cost to the person who is buying the dog, whether they are getting it as a result of a rescue or from a dog breeder. The law says you cannot sell or supply a dog that has not been microchipped in advance. Even then, the microchip costs €20. Linking the two does not increase those costs. What it does is ensures that some rogue individual can go to an animal welfare place, finds a dog it likes the look of, goes online, downloads a licence and then walks up and says "That's my dog", which is what is happening. It is happening regularly because there is no verification process around the dog licensing. Anyone can go online and just pay for a licence and get it.

The proposal in this regard is very well thought out. A very reputable dog welfare organisation has informed me that this is an issue, including when it goes to court in respect of animal welfare breaches. Unless the two are linked, there is a real issue regarding proof of ownership. You are obliged to have a microchip, you are obliged to have a licence, but it is the licence that is proof of ownership. I just wanted to clarify that. I am not au faitwith how it works with horses and so on. There is no extra cost involved. This is just bringing the two things together so that there is cohesion.

I am familiar with the work of My Lovely Horse, an animal welfare organisation. One of its campaigns relates to a ban on online sales. Most online sales and advertisements are actually for horses, they are not for dogs. What is Horse Care Ireland's view on the concept of free to a good home? There are concerns that many adverts are going up online. These are not just in respect of horses, but those relating to horses are predominant. The horses involved are described as being available as "free to a good home", but we do not know what happens to them after that. Does Horse Care Ireland support the call to ban these ads or does it have an opinion on the matter?