Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the guests for their opening statements. We had discussed covering this issue because certainly, anecdotally, the rising costs of veterinary bills is something that has been repeatedly raised with me, both by regular dog owners but also by a number of the shelters. I find it interesting that even if we took account of inflation alone, one would have to accept that veterinary costs have gone up, we are hearing, by at least 50%, which is way above inflation. I find it bizarre that none of the opening statements touched on the subject properly or looked into it.

They skirted around the issues. A 2012 study was quoted. That is way out of date. If they want to look at the matter, there is the Amárach Research study, which was carried out in September of this year on behalf of the ISPCA, which found that 36% of people said they would not consider owning a dog because of the cost. Some 25% said that veterinary costs were the main barrier to rescuing or owning a dog. Those are very recent statistics. If you go to talk to shelters, they will tell you that dogs with health problems are being surrendered because owners cannot afford to look after them. They cannot afford the recent medication. It interesting that the witnesses indicated that there is nothing to see here and that this is not an issue. We appreciate that during Covid-19 people got dogs when they should not have done and that they did not do the research. Yet, we have to accept that there is a problem with veterinary costs. If we are not going to accept that, we are not going to fix the problem. We are not going to be able to get those dogs rescued from the shelters if 26% of people are saying they will not even consider rescuing a dog because they are worried about veterinary costs.

My first question is for the Department of Rural and Community Development because it is responsible for dog pounds. Has the Department carried out a survey asking the dog pounds whether dogs are being surrendered as a result of veterinary costs? Has it put that question to all dog pounds? I went to visit the dog pound in South Dublin County Council. I was shown the large book that the staff have for recording information. The system is not even digitised. There is an inconsistency with the data that is being collected from pound to pound. Would the representatives consider digitising the information in this day and age, even on a single Excel spreadsheet? This would be in order that every local pound would collect the same amount of information and would share it. This would speed up the results coming out. I welcome the fact that the representatives said that the results would come out quicker. Yet, we need to have that information digitised and it needs to be consistent across the board. Would they look at having a single entity that is responsible for co-ordinating the local authorities' approach to the pounds so we can have that consistency across the board?

There is another question I want to ask the Department. It is my understanding that local authorities co-operate with animal rescues. We see in the figures when the results are produced that the euthanasia rates have gone down. This is because when the five days are up, the dogs will go on to many of the rescues, where they spend their time until they are rehomed. Who covers the veterinary bills for those rescues? Do local authorities cover them or does it fall to animal rescues centres, which will have the animal for much longer, to do so?

My final question is for Veterinary Ireland. Is there no scope for entering into agreements, particularly with rescue centres and shelters, which are really on their knees at the moment? They are reporting very high percentage increases in veterinary costs. Can they enter into an agreed rate system? They are guaranteed the business and that they will have hundreds of dogs, cats and companion animals coming through. Surely, an agreed rate system would be the way to go for the rescues. Those are my questions.