Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Brennan for addressing the issue of dog breeding. We still hope the Department will come before the committee to discuss the matter. One of the issues for the agriculture committee is that this issue falls under a different Department, so we have requested that the Department of Rural and Community Development, when it is available, come before the committee. That leads me to my first question. How important is it that all these animal welfare issues are brought in under the one Department? Does Mr. Brennan think that is necessary? Would that help things?

I would like Mr. Brennan to elaborate on a second issue. We are hearing that the dog breeding establishments legislation will be updated and we are promised that will require changes to the legislation. Would the current guidelines be fit for purpose if they were brought into primary legislation or do they need to change? I refer to the comments in Dogs Trust Ireland's opening statement on mechanisation and non-human supervision. Perhaps for the benefit of people listening in or those who might not be aware of how industrial these operations are, what exactly is Dogs Trust Ireland talking about when it refers to non-human supervision and mechanisation?

What happens to the breeding bitches when they have fulfilled their job on these farms? Does the number of litters they can have need to be capped, in Mr. Brennan's view?

Another issue is the illegal farming. If we were to get everything to do with the regulations right, bring in the guidelines and have the staff ratio and so on corrected, would that just drive illegal farming underground? How do we address the illegal farms in operation at present?