Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Everyone would welcome a considerable number of those moves. Like I said, enforcement and on-the spot-fines can be difficult to put in place. We want to see a greater level of microchipping. Many of us have often spoken in this Chamber about the maintenance of databases. Some of this would need to happen on an all-Ireland basis. In the Minister's constituency and in my own, there are particular issues that are impacted by partition even in this regard. If we could be operating some of these on an all-island basis, that would definitely make sense. Engagement with stakeholders is an absolute necessity.

I threw out the idea of ineffectual control because we have been given the examples where people would have gone out with large dogs. We can get into the ins and outs with particular breeds but in some cases, they could have very long leads and then that asks the question of what ineffectual control is. I accept that there is discretion, but I would like to think there would be guidelines. Again, if we had good manners, we would not need half of these rules. We also have to make sure this issue is publicised.

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