Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator O’Reilly for tabling this motion. I am devastated by what I just heard about Dublin Zoo. The minute the Minister of State leaves here, she must contact people to get them out to the zoo to see exactly what is going on. If even only a tiny portion of what she has been told is true, it is outrageous. When I think about how I and other people bring their grandchildren to the zoo and presume these animals are looked after better than any animals in the world, I am totally devastated.

My main point is about canine welfare. I have kept dogs all my life. I kept cocker spaniels for years, then I moved on to Labradors and now finally to beagles. I moved away from cocker spaniels because of a condition known as cocker rage. It apparently arises from inbreeding. When people go to purchase a dog, most want to buy a dog and not rescue a dog, so they usually find a little cardboard box in the corner with the puppies in it. Everything looks hunky-dory. Years later, though, it is found out that the breeder in question was breeding maybe 100 bitches and the little cardboard box was there purely for the benefit of visitors and nothing else.

My first beagle died recently. My wife made the decision that we were never going to have a dog again, that we were finished with that and we were never going through that again. My grandkids said “No”, and that if they got a dog, then Nana would take it. Then the hunt started for a beagle. I invite people to look at dogs.ie. A bulldog is available there today for €2,000 and a Pomeranian for €1,650. Beagles are available for €1,000. German Shepherds can be had for anything from €600 to €2,000, depending on where one goes to purchase the animal.

For starters, I bet a pound that nobody is paying any tax on this. I also guarantee that many of these animals are living in the most horrendous conditions. My son related the story to me about the hunt for the beagle. Several phone calls ended with the person on the other end of the line saying, “It is not my dog; I am selling it for a friend”, “The bitch is away being shown now, so it is not possible to see the animal”, or “No, the male is not about”. The worst response we had concerned eight puppies for sale down in the west for approximately €1,600 each. They were the most beautiful looking dogs. There was no problem in the world at all in that regard. The only snag was the bitch and the father were not available and could not be seen because they were living with this guy’s partner who was suffering from Covid-19. If we take the total accruing from selling eight puppies at €1,650 each, that is a massive amount of money.

To a certain degree, the Irish Kennel Club, IKC, has a role to play here. Many of the breeders I have met over the years are people who show dogs at IKC events. A very good friend of mine in the North of Ireland who has champion dogs is horrified by the number of dogs coming from the Republic, going through the North and on to the UK, in the boots of cars and in all sorts of transportation. My colleague, Senator Boylan, has a point in this regard. Breeders need to be registered. This trade must be formalised as a business. If people want to breed dogs, then they should have to establish that they are breeders with their local authority and register as such. If people are selling animals, they should be required to have this information on their website. They should need to have a registered number as a breeder to allow people like me, who want to buy a particular breed, to check out their bona fides. The trouble my family had in trying to get the latest dog we have - the beagle currently destroying my house, but that is another day’s work - and trying to establish the bona fides of the breeder was almost insurmountable, although, ultimately, we did find one. We are talking about a multimillion euro industry here in the trade in dogs.

To make a brief point about horses, by the end of the Celtic Tiger period, many people had bought horses they were convinced were going to turn into Arkle or Red Rum. Happy days, they thought. Suddenly, however, they were not able to feed those horses because they did not have the money. I am aware of one stable where people came and took their horses out. The owner of the stable asked the trainer where the horse was going, and the response was it was being taken down to a friend on a farm. What was actually happening, however, was the person was driving over to the west with a horsebox, opening it somewhere in Connemara, letting the horse out and then driving away. A county councillor in Ballina, whose name I cannot remember off the top of my head, used to drive around the country rescuing horses. He kept horses at his place in Ballina. He used his payment from the council to feed the horses. He was an amazing man. These were horses that had been sold for thousands of euro and they had been just dumped on the side of the road. This is a massive problem.

I am still in shock about Dublin Zoo. I really am. I just cannot get over what we have heard about that institution today. I thank Senator O’Reilly for bringing this motion. This matter needs to be highlighted. We must stop what is going on. If it is happening with dogs, then what must the market be like for exotic animals? I thank the Minister of State for being here.