Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Cattle farmers take out public liability insurance so that if our cattle break out on the road and a car hits them, we cover the cost for people who might damage their car if our animal is in the wrong but a dog can run out in front of a car and do whatever it wants or go after sheep. Generally every farmer with a dog has it covered on its farm policy but I think everyone will have to go down that road because the risk is too great. If dogs are wandering around a town and there are sheep up the road or a youngster is nipped by a dog, there must be some sort of come-back on that.

We are basically genomically testing everything so we know where cattle are from. If we are going to trace the problems if a dog goes after sheep or hurts someone - even a youngster - you need to be able to prove whose dog it is. Does Ms Creedon agree with us going down that road?