Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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331. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the status of the review of guidelines on welfare standards for dog breeding establishments which commenced in January 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16606/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In late 2015, the then Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government agreed to begin a process of review of the current Dog Breeding Establishment (DBE) Guidelines, under the auspices of the County and City Management Association (CCMA) Dogs Working Group. The work undertaken to date has been to produce a first draft revision of the Guidelines.

I considered it essential to broaden the review of the Guidelines to a more formal public consultation, both for quality assurance and to address the need for openness and inclusiveness. A wide-scale formal public consultative process commenced on 1 December 2016 and closed on 28 February 2017.  My Department is currently reviewing the feedback received through the process before submitting the findings to me.