Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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I will focus mostly on the dog-breeding establishments, if the witnesses do not mind. There is the legal definition of guidelines and there seems to be some confusion at different local authority levels, with some believing they are legally enforceable. Some local authorities make it a condition on granting a licence that a party complies with dog-breeding establishment guidelines but others do not. Do the witnesses agree it would be best if we removed the term "guidelines" and the ambiguity that goes with it so we can all be sure these are conditions that must be complied with if somebody is to run a dog-breeding establishment?

The second point concerns the databases and inconsistencies. Animal welfare organisations and I have done an exercise in trying to find out what dog-breeding establishments are licensed to different local authorities. What we find is that approximately 50% of local authorities will display some form of information around licensed establishments in the area. Others will have no information and it would have to be requested. Even then, the information given is patchy. Again, could we not have some consistency where the local authority would be obliged to display publicly the dog-breeding establishment licence and that the establishment itself would be required to divulge information, including the number and location of the establishment, along with the number of breeding bitches, for example. Again, that is not on every database. It should also include the tax registration number, because this can be a very profitable industry, and the date of the last inspection, including whether any conditions were attached to same. That sort of information would be very helpful.

From speaking to members of the public, it seems they are horrified to think they could be buying a dog coming from industrial-scale puppy farms. They are being advised by the Minister to do their homework but there is no way they can do that because they do not have the information available to them. What are the views of the witnesses on that or the database that could be publicly available with all that information, which could lead to people making an informed decision when buying a dog?

There is another question relating to data that should be maintained by the dog-breeding establishment operator. This would be a record of births, deaths, sales, movements and any other events that relate to each dog within the establishment. I have asked the question of previous witnesses in particular about what happens to breeding bitches then the dog-breeding establishment finishes with them. What we hear is it is very hard to gauge what happens to them. In some cases they are sold as older dogs and in other cases they are surrendered to rescue operations, which puts a cost on that service to look after these retired bitches. There is also anecdotal evidence that some of the dog-breeding establishments set up a separate rescue-type organisation and advertise these retired bitches as rescue dogs. They make more money by selling pups and then the retired bitch as a rescue dog. I will start with those questions and I might get back in again. The questions relate to tracking where the animals go from these establishments.