Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to speak to the Bill and I commend na Teachtaí Tóibín, Grealish and Canney, all of whom had some part in getting it to this stage. It was nice to hear the Minister's remarks. I always think the Thursday debates are a bit more easygoing and it was good to hear her put her dogs' names on the record, so I will do likewise. I had no dog to welcome me home last night because my little Slaney is dead. While she had a great life with us, it is a dog's life for many hundreds of dogs that are bred again and again in some of these dog breeding establishments.

These misfortunate dogs suffer because too many people are willing to buy their dogs on a roundabout, in an hotel car park or at a layby. When they do this, they must know that the reason they do not want to go to an establishment relates to the fact they cannot face the conditions in which some of these dogs are kept, like prisoners who just breed, feed and bleed. It is a dog's life because too many people are still willing to get puppies from these cruel, exploitative puppy farms, where the poor mothers are bred purely for money. What kind of life is that for any animal and what kind of person breeds animals like that? As any of us who has a dog will know, when you look in a dog's eyes, you wonder how anyone could have been drawn to that as a job. In my opinion, and I think that of all animal lovers, these people are unfit to keep any animal at all.

I support the Bill also because it will increase the penalties for those running unlicensed and illegal puppy farms. It calls for dogs to be kept in a manner that avoids unnecessary suffering, where they receive all necessary veterinary treatment in a timely manner. I pay tribute to groups in Kildare such as My Lovely Horse Rescue and Hilltop Sanctuary, which have to go around picking up the pieces of some of these poor dogs that are bred almost to death for the sake of profit. I also commend my comrade Senator Boylan on the report the Minister referenced, which she initiated with the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, on issues impacting on dog welfare in Ireland. We need to act immediately on that. I was surprised the Bill has come under the Minister's Department, given I had expected this debate to be with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Senator Boylan is anxious to facilitate a debate with him and she is a bit worried about his reluctance to have one, so the Minister might have a word with her Cabinet colleague in that regard.

We need to act on the licensing of dog breeding establishments, whose guidelines have been under review for years, and we need a firm date for when those guidelines will be updated. Just as important, we need confirmation that they will be put on a statutory footing because that is the only way this can work, with no ifs or buts. Right now, each local authority licenses dog breeding establishments but there is no standardisation of the information they make available. Sinn Féin would like to ensure that each local authority will display the details of each dog breeding establishment on its website, including the number of breeding bitches at the establishment. We would also like the Department to have a central online database where the public can access all the information they need in one place. That would make it easier for people to cross-reference the information in an online advert with the dog breeding establishment licence number and make the best possible decision about where to source a new pet.

A man's best friend becoming a man's best profit is just cruel and exploitative. Many dogs surrendered to shelters are mutilated breeding bitches or farmed dogs that are never socialised properly because so many of the dog breeding establishments are now mechanised. Dog shelters are full of gorgeous dogs that need loving homes. If I were not a Deputy, I would replace my dog, but I am away from home so often and a dog needs company. I would have loved to have had a bit of a welcome home late last night.

"Adopt, don't shop" is not just a phrase; it is excellent advice and I urge everyone to take it. We are coming up to Christmas, which is the wrong time to buy a dog, so I hope people will not do that.

See this speech in context