Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail)
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I want to follow on from Senator Boylan. We know the Department of Rural and Community Development has responsibility for breeding. What I am hearing from Senator Boylan is that it is a dog welfare matter. What link is there with the checks and balances that the welfare section is putting on dog breeding establishments? To me, automation seems cruel and while it is convenient and dogs might have a clean place, it is a sanitised environment where they are not seeing people. Where does that link up in this entire area? I would see that as being a big problem in regard to the quality or happiness of the dog we end up buying as a potential customer.

I want to home in on several questions, and these are more for the Department of Rural and Community Development. There are the issues of rural affairs and of local government. The Department of Rural and Community Development does the policy and all of that, and then gives that to the local authorities, which have to come up with the budget. As an example, we do not have enough dog wardens. Has the Department of Rural and Community Development ever said that, clearly, to have 1.5 dog wardens is not good enough for two counties and that ratio is not substantial enough? Does it ever say “We are the experts here, we are the policymakers”? Has there ever been an ask from the Department to local government to say that it is going to have to up its game because what is happening is against the Department's policy, it is not good for dog welfare and the local authorities are not adhering to the standards that the Department of Rural and Community Development is putting out?

I am from the Cooley Mountains, which is probably one of the most beautiful parts of the country, and it has many walkers and fantastic walks schemes. The Department of Rural and Community Development is responsible for those walks schemes and working with local farmers to ensure those schemes are upheld. At the moment, many people bring their dogs and take them off the lead. What if farmers start reneging on those commonage rights on walkways? Does the Department of Rural and Community Development start listening at that stage and say “We cannot fall back on our walks schemes because that is not good for tourism, so we might have to start listening to farmers”?

Has it been suggested that dogs do not go on commonage because they are lethal on commonage? Every single Monday or Sunday evening, I see on a local Facebook page something like “My wee pet Benjy ran away and is now missing”, and asking everyone to try to find this dog. No one is talking about the fact that dog is a wild animal and is going to need to survive. How does a dog survive? It survives by hunting.

We are not focusing on public awareness. The Department mentioned the “Bonzo” ad but it is not on television at present and is only on social media; it is not as impactful as it was before. Has the Department considered banning dogs from commonage areas? That is an ask from local farmers because they are losing stock. It is an animal welfare issue when sheep are dying on the mountains or birds nests are being unearthed because a dog is running feral on lands for days on end.

I want to ask about cross-Border co-operation. I am sure Deputy Carthy is well aware of the lack of co-operation and the difficulties with Northern dogs, for want of a better description, and the inability to link up with the authorities, North and South, which seems to be a big blockage in our enforcement locally. Maybe some local authorities are better than others but, at a national level, has there been co-operation between the ministries, North and South, and also guidance for our local authorities to be able to deal with that?

The witnesses referred to networking and training days. Is that for dog wardens? Is any of that compulsory training? I support Senator Boylan's ask about training dog owners and potential dog owners, linking that to the licensing requirements and putting a little money and time into digitisation of the entire licensing process. Louth County Council has online licensing but it did that itself - it paid for it itself and it worked on that all by itself, in conjunction with other local authorities, with no direct help from the Department. Local authorities are doing this and they are not getting support, and there is no definite linkup between the microchipping and licensing. It is illegal not to microchip a dog but has anybody been prosecuted for that? I have many other questions but I will leave it there.