Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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259. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to SI No. 128 of 2014, why he is continuing to allow the docking of the tails of hunting dogs, a mutilation considered so unethical that the Veterinary Council of Ireland prohibits vets from performing it. [41548/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Animal Health & Welfare Act 2013 is a major updating of our laws in this area going back to 1911. The provisions of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 are designed to improve the health and welfare of all animals and for the first time introduces a general prohibition on operations and procedures which interfere with the bone or sensitive tissue of an animal unless for veterinary treatment or unless provided for by regulation. In working out which operations and procedures should be permitted under the Act, much weight was given to current, up to the minute, scientific research on animal welfare. While a general ban on tail docking for cosmetic purposes has been introduced and enforced, an allowance has been made for the docking of tails of a restricted list of dog breeds that are to be used for lawful pest control, hunting or shooting. In these limited circumstances, the procedure may now only be done by a veterinary professional rather than the owner or any other person as occurred heretofore. Such a veterinary professional is permitted to perform this procedure only where evidence is shown that the individual animal will be involved in lawful hunting, shooting or pest control. The Veterinary Council of Ireland has recently updated its advice note on the Prophylactic Tail Docking of Dogs to reflect this legislative change.