Mr. Conor Brennan:

On the number of breeding bitches, we come at it from the angle of welfare standards and the staff-to-dog ratio is not up to scratch at the moment. We would really like to see that matter given consideration.

To be honest, the Department is looking at reviewing the Dog Breeding Establishments Act. That is a great opportunity to look ahead and modernise the legislation, Ireland could be a front runner in dog welfare and have dog breeding establishments with extremely high welfare standards.

Ireland could be known for that in the future and this is the opportunity. The standards of welfare and engagement with staff on the ground are the key aspects we are looking at rather than the cap.

On the Senator's second question, yes, absolutely. Another thing I will mention on the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2010 is that information shared by the licence-holder should include a tax and registration number. I think it should be fully transparent for Revenue maybe looking at dog breeding establishments as a business but also being able to cross-check against databases. These Departments should really help themselves here in how they can access some of this information. We would welcome that.