Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Go raibh maith agat, Cathaoirleach. I know time is limited but that exchange reminded me of an uncle of mine who was training a sheepdog one time and it was not going well. The reason he gave for his lack of success was the dog had come from the Gaeltacht and did not understand him.

The witnesses are all very welcome and I think we are all on the one side of the fence on this one. We will have to follow this meeting up with the other side of the fence, which is the Department and the people who have the power to make changes. Today is about the committee becoming armed with the information to go to that meeting. I had a couple of people who were meant to attend today and unfortunately they could not. They have done a lot to highlight this issue and they are Eamonn and Niamh Monahan from Iniskeen, Monaghan. They will appear on "Crimecall" to get the message out to a different audience that would not usually watch this. We would all watch "Ear to the Ground" if this issue was featured on it but the whole country watches the likes of "Crimecall" and I do not think enough can be done to highlight the issue to the public because they are the dog owners. The big issue here, the problem, is dog owners. As was mentioned already it is not savagery but the number of people out there who say their dog is only a little poodle and is the loveliest dog in the world and would not do a bit of harm, he would run after a ball, a stick and a sheep. It is the worrying and chasing of ewes that are heavily in lamb. It does not have to be savagery. There is some savagery but the chase can do every bit as much damage with lambs being thrown and all of that.

There needs to be more highlighting of the issues as Eamonn and Niamh have done so that the public and not just the farming community see it. Your heart would go out to them. They have a pedigree Texel herd and do not know when they go to bed any night what they will wake up to the next morning. It is completely out of their control. There is a body of work to be done. I compliment the people who are working on this issue.

Another colleague of mine, Councillor Fionnán Fitzgerald, informed me that Kerry has done a map of reported dog attacks. Every county should do that and we as politicians should encourage all local authorities to do that because when one sees a map and list of how many attacks there are, there are a lot more than one would imagine. I am a firm believer and have been hammering the drum for a long time that the owner of any breed of dog should not be allowed to chip a dog or get a licence without doing a theory test. Anybody can have a dog and he or she might not have a clue about the consequence of having a dog. There should be a theory test before a person is allowed to own a dog and that is something I will keep pushing for.

I do not have any questions because we received the witnesses' documentation. I have a minute and a half remaining, if anyone would like to comment.