Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 23 February 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013: Post-Enactment Scrutiny (Resumed)

Mr. Tim Kirby:

It is a good point. If we take it from both ends of the spectrum, on one end, we would have the finest bred pedigree dog and, on the other end, many of the dogs - I would add the caveat not all of them - would be high end pedigree but would have issues such as restricted noses where they cannot breathe properly and have airway issues. We are trying to bring in new breed standards where we say this is what the norm should be for this dog, its nose and airways need to be this wide and this long and anything that is different or less than that does not conform. Therefore, we would have some benchmarking for breeders and everybody involved in that sector of pedigree dog breeding. If we look at the other end, where this also applies, we would have cavachons, cookapoos and pomskies, which are pomeranians crossed with huskies. Many people would refer to those breeds as designer breeds also, even though there are no pedigrees whatsoever with these dogs. Some people would argue and say we crossed a pedigree poodle with a pedigree cocker spaniel but it is a completely new breed that is being created. What health and behavioural issues will it have? It is almost like opening a lucky bag and pulling something out to see what it could be.

I agree with the Deputy that we need to almost neutralise the language around it. One cannot make a comment without referring to both ends of the spectrum. Certain things are common to both ends of the spectrum. The health and welfare of any dog will apply no matter what end of the spectrum it is on. That is where we need to find a commonality in how we refer to these dogs. Also, as the Deputy said, it would take away some of the stigma associated with certain breeds. It does not glamorise certain terms. That is where the public education about this comes in. Sometimes we must be brutally honest about what it is, call it for what it is and then deal with the issues around that. We must almost reverse engineer the end product, which is the problem, and then build it back up in the public mind, with direct language around that, and inform and educate people on what is healthy and normal, and what should be acceptable from now on.