Eileen Lynch (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the organisations for their briefings. It has been very informative. I did not realise the number of non-microchipped pet dogs there was in the country. With regard to my background, I keep greyhounds. It is an incredibly regulated sport. We have to microchip our dogs if we want to register them and if we want them to compete. It is incredibly lax that the same does not apply to pet owners. We sometimes have a case here where we are putting pets ahead of agricultural animals. I do no think that is good enough because, as has been said by Senator Daly, people should have some kind of training or test in order to have a dog. I have dogs. Do I know what they are up to every night? Absolutely not.

Something that I do not think has been raised by any of the groups today is the issue of dog insurance. We have insurance for our dogs for any damage they carry out. I appreciate there is a burden of proof in terms of proving whose dog is inflicting the damage. Do the witnesses think insurance for dog damage is an area we need to be focusing on? Hunting paths and greyhound owners have it. It is not a thing that is, to me, as prominent with actual pet owners and I think that is an issue we need to focus on.

My second point - I know it has been raised by the previous two speakers, and I am not trying to take away from the meeting - is that looking at the books of evidence and the photos from the INHFA, I find it hard to believe that all those attacks are carried out by pet dogs. I know, at the end of the day, a dog is a dog and a dog can turn. Do the witnesses think there is a higher proportion of these attacks coming from illegal hunting groups? I am not specifying what kind.

Hunting groups and coursing groups are going through land with the landowner's permission. Without the landowner's permission, those sports cannot continue. Is it the case that groups of people illegally going through lands are causing a higher proportion of the damage? I appreciate a dog can turn on a person in a second. I am well aware of that and have experience of it. Whether it is a poodle or a bulldog, anything is possible. As I said, I find it hard to believe that more of these attacks are by pet as opposed to illegally held or illegally owned dogs.