Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. I appreciate the motivation here. I shall address Deputy O' Sullivan's last point about Brexit and the nature of the exports to the UK, which is where an estimated 7,000 Irish-bred dogs are deemed to be on the register. EU law harmonises the rules on greyhound exports and therefore Ireland cannot act unilaterally. I do not have information on the four animals referred to by the Deputy, but I believe the Deputy said the animals went through another country before they went on. The International Greyhound Forum's welfare membership is made up of NGOs, interest groups, Bord na gCon, Dogs Trust, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, ISPCA and others. In one sense we have to use that forum to put pressure on. If a person has a track record of exporting in another EU country, EU law can identify the person and prevent that. Ireland cannot, however, do this unilaterally. We could certainly feed into the international forum.

On the other hand, if the UK is no longer part of the EU, then it will be outside the control of the EU laws that harmonise greyhound exports. It adds a complication with regard to the amendment. If the Deputies bring the amendment forward again I suggest they look again at the drafting to reflect on Brexit. With Brexit the UK will become a third country and we will have to look at how this will pan out with the final arrangements post Brexit.

I have said that we cannot accept the amendment currently but I accept the motives behind it. We ask that the International Greyhound Forum is used as the platform to try to monitor the situation and then we will see if we can bring in the EU laws, while being mindful of the UK not being part of the European Union.

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