Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank our guests for coming. I will not repeat what everyone else has said other than to say I am aware that the Department of Rural and Community Development publishes a comprehensive manual of statistics in respect of local authority dog-related activities. When I went looking today, I saw that the statistics for 2021 are not yet online. The witnesses might tell us when they are because this is important. I am also aware of the information on stray and unwanted dogs and the detail the Department has on that. I have looked back at those statistics. The witnesses need not go through all that, but they might tell us when the 2021 statistics will be published. We are now coming up to the middle of 2022.

I noted from the Department's comprehensive written statement, which I read in detail today, that the total number of dogs euthanised in local authority pounds in 2020 was 172. That was dramatically down from the 404 in 2019. Has Covid anything to do with that? I think Covid had a significant effect on dog ownership, strangely enough. We see a lot of dogs now being got rid of. I will not say "dumped", but certainly there were many people who had dogs and who were walking them around Dún Laoghaire Harbour a few months ago. I ask them where their dogs are and they say, "We parted company." There is a small issue there in respect of Covid that we will not really know how to measure. Many people got new dogs during the period of Covid and suddenly realised when they were going back to work that they could not quite manage their dogs. There is something in all that. The witnesses may know something about it, but in time I think we will know more from those figures. In 2002, 21,000 dogs were euthanised. Are those figures correct? I am shocked to think that many dogs were euthanised in 2002. The witnesses might come back to me on those figures.

Another area I am especially interested in hearing about is whether the Department has more detailed information on the dogs held by the 85 hunt clubs? Concern has been expressed to me about some of those clubs. I simply do not have the facts but I would like to know how much the Department monitors that and how much it inspects those activities. It is a different type of dog keeping, if the witnesses know what I mean. We talk about animal welfare, and that is critically important. I would like the witnesses to address that issue.

I am particularly interested in the issue of livestock worrying. The Department tells us it is taking advice from the Attorney General on increasing the fines and the regulatory issues around all that, and rightly so. Farmers, whom we represent, are clearly a big aspect of our work on the committee and they are deeply concerned about this. What are the penalties the Department is planning? What engagement has it had with the farm representative bodies and groups, and indeed individual farmers or stakeholders in agriculture? They need to know more about this. When does the Department expect a timeline in respect of the Attorney General? We hear a lot in these Houses about the Attorney General's legal advice, which seems to be endless. It is a great old line to be spun out. I am not suggesting the witnesses are spinning that line but I am suggesting it is one we hear regularly in these Houses. What is the timeline in that regard? That is the particular issue on which I wish to concentrate. I accept there seems to be a bit of a disjointed mix between the local authority, the witnesses' Department and the local authority veterinary service. I am hearing from the witnesses that there may be a need for some legislative change in some areas. That has been suggested. As a committee, we would like to hear about those changes. If anything is to come from our work today, we would like to elicit from the witnesses some key messages, not necessarily today, but the witnesses can contact the committee at any time with recommendations as to what they think would be positive and favourable in respect of this issue in order that we could further consider them in any report we may wish to do.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for the time. I thank the witnesses for coming here to be with us. They might touch on some of the issues I have raised.