Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a couple of questions. Actually, they are more statements than questions. While they may come across as negative, I am not being negative. I am just playing devil's advocate for the purpose of the debate.

I have an issue with restricted breeds. Ms Creedon stated that uneducated owners were also to blame. All dogs, irrespective of breed or size, have a pack mentality and are hunters by nature. There are people who say that their dogs are not on the restricted list, are at home, there is no harm in them and are such little lambs that, if robbers were in the house, they would help pack the satchels. Those owners have a false sense of security about their dogs. If it gets off the leash and gets into a pack, the smallest and quietest dog can do serious damage as part of that pack. I am a farmer and have seen this myself. Humans might call it peer pressure or whatever, but one can see a different side of a dog when it is in a pack. I sometimes wonder if, by giving owners a false sense of security because their dogs are not on the restricted list, they are giving their dogs too much freedom and are almost in denial. They believe that their dogs are little lambs, but those dogs can be more than lambs when in company. What is Ms Creedon's opinion?

She referred to education programmes and training owners. How would that be introduced and enforced? A large percentage of dogs are not microchipped. People do not bother following through with microchipping because it is too much hassle, it is not worth it, their dogs will not do any harm or ever leave the house, it will never be an issue, there is an electric wire around their houses so their dogs will never leave the garden and no one will even know they are there, etc. Basically, they could not be bothered. Of those who go to the bother of ticking all the boxes, how many would drop off if we introduced an element of training or put more red tape or boxes to be ticked in front of them? They might say that they will not bother being trained in how to be dog owners and they will be all right. Could it have the opposite of the desired effect? I agree with and have been advocating for a process whereby getting a dog licence requires exactly what Ms Creedon set out in her submission. It should be similar to the driver's licence theory test. However, how many people who are currently microchipping their dogs would fall off the scale because they believed the new requirements would be too much hassle and they would be all right anyway because their dogs never get out and no one would know they had them?