Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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174. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on whether Ireland is not proactive enough in protecting animals with dog breeding establishments. [24974/17]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The regulation of dog breeding establishments is a matter for local authorities in accordance with the Dog Breeding Establishment Act 2010. Each local authority must maintain for public inspection a register of dog breeding establishments in its functional area, which must include the name and address of the applicant seeking entry onto the register, the address of the dog breeding establishment and the maximum number of breeding bitches that may be kept at the dog breeding establishment or premises.

The Dog Breeding Establishment Act 2010 provides a robust regulatory framework for, inter alia, the licensing, monitoring and inspection of dog breeding establishments by local authorities and, where a serious and immediate threat exists to public health or animal health and welfare, for the closure of such establishments.

A joint inspection regime of dog breeding establishments, involving the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Local Authority Veterinary Service, was inaugurated in 2015 for the purpose of inspection and follow up action. The discovery of individual problematic dog breeding establishments, and the taking of action by the Gardaí, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and local authorities in an integrated manner in the most serious cases, is a matter for the enforcement authorities concerned.

In late 2015, my Department agreed to begin a process of review of the current Dog Breeding Establishment Guidelines, under the auspices of the County and City Management Association Dogs Working Group.  The work undertaken to date has been to produce a first draft revision of the Guidelines.

It was 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 and data received through the process before submitting the findings to me.

More generally, the enforcement of welfare standards regarding all animals is a matter for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013.