Animal Breeding
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-09
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Aisling Dempsey (FF), Meath West

I thank the Minister. I appreciate that answer and his commitment in this area. It is obvious it is something about which he is quite passionate. It would be really beneficial if we could get some kind of timeline on that now. We met with Dog Law Ireland and other advocates. I met a lady from my own constituency that day called Alma. It is not about people like that. There are excellent dog breeders out there. There really are. Alma spoke about bottle-feeding puppies through the night and nursing the bitches back to health when there were any issues. It is not those people I am talking about here today. It is the dog breeding establishments with which we have serious issues. The updates to that legislation cannot come quick enough for those dogs' physical and mental safety. I am delighted to hear there are annual inspections. In terms of the local authorities, I know there was €2 million in funding last year and perhaps a commitment, although I will not prejudge, in the upcoming budget for more dog wardens. Those teams will never be big enough. They have so much to police and so much to inspect. I would like to ask the Minister about that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-09