Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

There have been many submissions and I am not here to have a discussion with the Senator. However, I can talk to him afterwards if he wants me to bring something to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Gormley.

The Minister and his Department will continue to liaise with all interested parties to ensure the optimal outcome is achieved, namely, a Bill which is efficient in terms of its implementation and effective in that it places the welfare of dogs at its centre. The Minister will only sign the regulations proposed in the Bill into law after full consultation with interested parties, including the Hunting Association of Ireland.

The debate today and last week reflected the broad spectrum of opinion on the issue of the regulation of dog breeding establishments, while also touching on some broader matters in relation to dog control and animal welfare. Consultation on this Bill has been extensive. The working group included representatives from the Veterinary Council of Ireland, the Irish Greyhound Board, the Irish Kennel Club, and the Dog Breeders Association in addition to Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, An Garda Síochána and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

The working group received 27 submissions in response to a notice in the national press from a variety of animal welfare and veterinary bodies and local authorities in addition to private individuals. The deliberations of the working group reflected a complexity of opinion and resulted in one majority report and three minority reports being presented to the then Minister. This divergence of opinion is also evident in the 652 submissions received by the Department following the release of the report of the working group, most of whose members were in favour of some degree of regulation.

The legislation, when enacted, must be effective in its implementation and fundamentally have the welfare of dogs at its core. In this context, I want to refer to the Minister's letter of February 2008 which has been referred to by a number of Senators during the course of this debate. The letter indicated that groups affiliated to the Hunting Association of Ireland would be exempt from the then proposed legislation to be introduced. To a certain extent the HAI is exempt from the full requirements of the Bill in that hunt clubs, affiliated to it do not have to pay fees for registration. This is in recognition of their non-commercial status. In the interim the Minister has considered further the practical difficulties that a full exemption would create for the implementation of the legislation and concluded that such an exemption is neither feasible nor justifiable.