Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)

It is very relevant. I want to move on because my time is going.

I want to work with the farm organisations on this. There are major issues around the legislation from 1986. It is very weak, as was alluded to. It is resulting in a lack of prosecutions. That is the reality. The other factor is not only do we have very weak and loose legislation that is vague and one of the reasons there is such a lack of prosecutions, particularly around the sheep-worrying offence, but we also have a lack of enforcement. In Mayo, for example, there are just three dog wardens to cover the entire county. When we have breakouts of hare coursing in north and south Mayo, it is a major challenge.

The other point I want this committee to focus on is providing An Garda Síochána with the equipment to manage this problem. It is shocking that the Garda in Mayo does not have the ability to scan with respect to microchipping. I understand that scanners were sent by the Department to the Garda across the country some years ago and some gardaí in stations were unfortunately unable to use them because that was not sanctioned by the justice Minister and senior management within An Garda Síochána.

Addressing these major issues will have a big, positive impact. The reality is that there are people losing pedigree flocks overnight as a result of this issue and we need to address it.