Ms Bairbre Nic Aongusa:

I am aware of that issue, which has been raised with the Minister. As I understand it, there is a local authority database on dog licences and a separate database on microchipping. The two databases operate separately. When they were being developed, some consideration was given as to whether there should be a single database, but I understand speed was of the essence and it was decided on the local authority side to proceed with having a dog licence database. The question of having a link between the two databases would require further work and development.