Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

This side of the House did put down an amendment to increase that period from four months to two years. We expressed amazement that any expert on dog breeding would suggest that a bitch could breed at four months but the Minister refused to accept or even discuss that amendment. We even offered to withdraw it in favour of a lesser period at that time. We suggested six months, a year or whatever the Minister would be willing to consider but, unfortunately, he was unwilling to consider any of those proposals.

We put down the amendment because a bitch cannot breed at four months. I would like to know the breed of bitch that can breed at six months because I believe they are few and far between. I will give an example. Many people in the greyhound industry rear greyhounds up to a year. They do not breed greyhounds. The breeding establishment would pass on the young pups at an early age to a rearer of greyhounds who would take them on and rear them up to a year old, to sapling age, when they would then be put into training. However, many of those people do not breed dogs yet they will still fall under the definition of dog breeding establishments. That is mainly the reason we suggested the period should be increased to a year at least to ensure those people would not be included in this legislation. We could let them come under the 1958 Greyhound Act regulations which, as I said here many times previously, is the legislation that is the controlling authority for greyhounds. It is only in the past week or two that the Minister has belatedly agreed to come to that position even though it was pointed out to him here on numerous occasions in recent months.

I, too, feel sorry for Senator O'Donovan who was speaking a great deal of sense from the opposite side of the House. He understood the reasonable argument we were trying to make on this side of the House. Unfortunately, as some Senator have said, he is the victim as he was out-flanked by the pack of Fianna Fáil backbenchers who hunted down the Minister in the Dáil. That unfortunate Senator is the victim and I hope people in his own party will see that he should be readmitted. It is none of my business but the man made a reasonable argument. He stood his ground on principle, and I appreciate and respect that.

Those on this side of the House argue that definition of a dog breeding establishment should state that a bitch should be a year old and not six months old because as far as breeding is concerned, it is a more reasonable and proper term for bitches to start breeding and it would also exclude the people I have just mentioned who are in the business of rearing dogs and not breeding them. We have pointed that out. It has fallen on deaf ears. I see an attempt was made, and perhaps it is some form of compromise to some of the backbenchers I mentioned, to raise it to six months but as far as we are concerned it does not go far enough.