Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Gormley, to the House. I compliment him on bringing forward the Bill. Before he gets overly enthusiastic, I should say I have certain reservations about it.

It is important that the Minister introduces legislation in this area. I hope he will listen to the arguments made. Some aspects of the matter addressed by the Bill, and related areas, are quite controversial. There is consensus in the house on puppy farms. How horrible a concept it is and how sickening it is to see what we saw on the television. However, there are also other forms of animal cruelty. It is worthwhile recognising that even the best willed intention on the implementation of the legislation would not get over the difficulty the BBC had when it refused to broadcast Crufts for the simple reason that it believed that the breeding of dogs for show purposes can be as bad for the breed as anything else. We have seen that certain breeds of dog such as King Charles spaniels suffer from weak hearts due to generations of in-breeding as lap-dogs that are not allowed to exercise. One can do the same with almost every single breed of dog. I do not expect the Minister to introduce legislation to deal with that issue.