Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Leader, Deputy Leader and other Seanad colleagues on their performances in the European elections and join in congratulations to the people who are winning. I will make one sad remark. In the midst of all the joy of the weekend, as Senator Dolan said, there is sadness and misfortune. One of the best county councillors in Ireland, respected across all political shades and none, was Councillor Peter McVitty in Cavan. He is an absolute gentleman. He and his lovely wife Susan gave much to public service and the whole community for a lifetime. He lost out by a few votes after a long number of years. That is the sad side. That needs as much acknowledgement as the success.

I will turn to the tragic event in Limerick of the death of the lady who had the rare breed dogs. It is a shocking calamity. Our hearts go out to her family. I gather there has been another similar attack since. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has established a stakeholder group on this issue and I understand the Taoiseach has asked for the outcome to be fast-forwarded. Anything we can do to debate and fast-forward it should be done. Those breeds should be banned completely in the country. There is no logic to having them. They are often in restricted and dangerous conditions and they should not be here. There have been a number of initiatives. The Minister gave €2 million for the control of dogs in 2002 and there are rules around muzzles for various breeds, but keeping certain breeds of dogs in housing estates in narrow confined areas is very dangerous. An accident only has to happen once for them to get out. A lovely gentleman in my community was savaged by dogs on a roadway one day and lost an arm. A local post lady valiantly saved him. She was recognised by the President. We need to do something on this fast. We need to ban the rare dog breeds.

Well done to everyone who was successful at the weekend.