Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I did dislike dogs, to be fair. I read a study which indicated that governments or whomever is responsible should be looking at the quantity of pet food that is sold as an indication. If we were to measure the amount of pet food that is sold against the number of licences, I imagine that we would be talking about a very small number, on the one hand, and a large amount, on the other. That is a way to give people an idea of the difference between the number of licences held and the number that could or potentially should be held. People have quite a relaxed attitude to it because they see that it is not maybe taken that seriously. It is not considered an offence other than, as Ms O'Connor said, in the way the theft of a mobile phone or another piece of property is. It is not considered separate, but we also do not quantify the scale. We do not have the number of dog warden to match up to the number of dogs, but we also do not have a mechanism of measuring, except by means of the licences. I am sure everyone in the room and watching in is responsible and has a licence.

In truth, people do not. They are taking a chance on the high likelihood they will never be asked for it. A lot of people also do not know. Should we also be taking steps to quantify the number of pets? Maybe it can be dismissed as a small issue, but it is huge.