Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

A dog may be a man's best friend, but without question there are many humans who are cruel to dogs. As one who raised the question of puppy farms four or five years ago in this House, I welcome legislation that will assist in rooting out cruel and greedy dog breeders whose only concern is financial gain. Thankfully, such individuals who run these establishments are few and far between. I hope they will be a thing of the past when the legislation is passed and enforced, although there will always be unscrupulous individuals who will try to defeat the system where money is involved.

I have reservations about some aspects of the Bill. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, mentioned in the House that he had consulted the Hunting Association of Ireland and its affiliates only last week. I want him to confirm that this statement was correct; otherwise, he may need to come to correct the record of the House. Written assurances were given by the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, and the Minister, Deputy Gormley, to hunt representative associations in his reply to the comments of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, that they would be exempt from the Bill, both in terms of fees and registration. Based on what is contained in the Bill, the Minister has reneged on that commitment. I acknowledge the payment of fees has been waived, but the same does not apply in the case of registration. Hunt kennels only breed a handful of pups each year, simply to renew numbers in a pack. They are certainly not commercial dog breeding establishments and cannot be classified as puppy farms.

When one mentions registration, does that infer such information will be in the public domain? If that is the position, no wonder breeders are concerned, as there are animal rights groups and activists who can only be classified as subversives who have been convicted of offences in the United Kingdom. Some of these groups and individuals are active in Ireland; some even purport to have links with the Green Party which I am sure the Minister will deny. However, one understands why breeders would be concerned if such people had access to their names and addresses. These people have shown and proven in the past that they are capable of anything. Senators Norris and Ó Brolcháin asked what the hunt people are worried about and why. One of the main reasons they are worried is the possibility of these type of people having access to their names and addresses.

I refer to a quote from Bernie Wright who has met the Minister, Deputy Gormley, several times recently. The Minister met several people before the referendum on the Lisbon treaty and promised them various legislation on animal welfare if they voted "Yes". She is the public relations officer of the Association of Hunt Saboteurs. The hunt were lobbying for an exemption for hunt kennels. She suggested they failed to get the exemption and that they would be inspected. This lady told us this before the Minister had the Bill in and after he promised other Ministers they would be exempt. This lady was able to tell all and sundry that hunt kennels would not be exempt. One wonders who is running the country since such people put pressure on the Minister and the Minister accepts it and introduces legislation to appease these people.

I refer to correspondence from Nuala Donlon, the founder of the Alliance for Animal Rights, AFAR, to Bernie Wright. She stated:

This Government is far from stable. You may be already voting "Yes" on Friday or not voting at all. If you are going to vote "No" then I would urge you for tactical reasons only to consider a "Yes" vote. I oppose Lisbon and find it a gross insult that we are voting a second time. But for the sake of some progress on animal rights in this country, the current Government in which the Greens hold such a power and sway must be kept in place and it is for this reason and this reason alone that I will be voting "Yes". A hard pill to swallow.

I refer to a further quote:

Nuala and I both agree with the strategy below, although both of us have voted "No" in the past. We need the Greens there a little longer. Please trust us.

Such e-mails are being passed around and this legislation comes as a result of such actions.

Some of the despicable puppy farms unearthed in recent years contained fewer than six bitches. I trust the fines in the Bill will be an adequate deterrent for the rogues and scoundrels that run these establishments and carry out cruel and inhumane practices. None of us wishes for such practices to continue.

I refer to the question of finance raised by Senator de Búrca. Even after the increase in the licence fees, local authorities will have a shortfall of €1.6 million each year. Does the Minister intend to ringfence funding for local authorities to make up this deficit? The County and City Managers' Association and the representative associations for members are keen for sufficient funding streams to be put in place to enable them to meet their responsibilities under the Control of Dogs Acts and under this Bill. Senator de Búrca and the Green Party have stated there will be a €1.6 million deficit. Where will the local authorities get this money? We have already seen the disgraceful cutbacks on roads and there is another cutback in respect of this Bill. Is the Government trying to stifle and ruin local authorities altogether?

As I stated earlier, Fine Gael will support the Bill in principle and will not oppose it on Second Stage. However, I hope that on Committee Stage the Minister will be receptive to some of the amendments we intend to table. As Senator Ormonde stated, people have been hunting since Adam was a boy and will continue to hunt whether the Green Party is in power.