Dáil debates

Thursday, 8 July 2010

Dog Breeding Establishments Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

2:00 pm

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 4, to delete from "at which" in line 16 down to and including "purposes," in line 19 and substitute the following:

"or any number of premises owned by the same proprietor where 5 or more litters of pups are produced in a calendar year.".

A division along those lines would be fair to all. It would be very difficult to hide clutches of pups. Kennel clubs would also be used by the authorities to establish how many clutches were registered.

As matters stand, without this amendment, if less than six breeding bitches, say five, are kept in a number of different premises the proposed legislation will not apply to them. It means that a person either hunting or shooting with seven bitches in use for the particular sport can have one clutch every three or four years and will be classified as running a puppy farm when the legislation is enacted. I suggest that the Minister take this on board and accept the amendment as written. The situation is wide open to abuse as matters stand. Anyone could ride a coach and four through it as it stands and exploit it for selfish benefits, so I hope the Minister will accept the amendment.

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