Animal Breeding
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-09
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Jennifer Whitmore (SD), Wicklow

I am happy to see the Minister, Deputy Heydon, is amending the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2010 and is introducing some stronger regulations for dog breeding. They are long overdue. I am also pleased to see that many of the proposals he is including are proposals I included in my dog breeding Bill last December. We debated that Bill in the Chamber last December so I am pleased to see those suggestions being carried forward into this legislation.
However, there are a number of glaring gaps in what the Minister is doing. The first, and probably most important one, is that no cap is included in the Minister's legislation. Currently, dog breeding establishments can have up to 300 breeding females. There could be 300 breeding females, plus all their pups and 50, 60 or 70 male dogs on site. That is a huge number of animals. If we are trying to move away from being known internationally as the puppy farm capital of Europe, we need to curb, and have some level of control over, the number of pups being produced at these sites. The only way to do that is through a cap. I understand the Minister has said there are some legal concerns about it. Other countries have done it. I do not see why we cannot do something similar. There are not many breeders who have that capacity to breed, so I am not sure why the Government is closing an eye to the very large breeders. My Bill included a cap of 30 and I ask that the Government consider including that cap in this legislation. As I said, unless a cap is put in place, the integrity of the Bill will be undermined. It is fundamental.
In my legislation, I suggested a 1:10 staff to dog ratio and the Minister is including a 1:20 ratio. That is too high. It is one staff member looking after 20 breeding females, plus all their pups and whatever male dogs are on site. That is a lot of animals in one person's care, making sure they are fed and watered and being domesticated. Ultimately, these pups will end up in people's homes and it is important they are socialised and get used to being handled by people and played with. I cannot see how one individual can deal with that many breeding females and pups. A person could have more than 100 animals in their care. It is an important time in the development of a puppy. Socialisation has to happen at that stage and that ratio is not sufficient. Therefore, I ask that this be addressed in the legislation.
As I said, we debated my Bill in the Dáil last December. During that debate, I agreed to a nine-month delay in voting on the Bill because I was promised by the Minister that I would be included and involved in the development of the Minister's Bill. I heard zilch - nothing. There was no consultation on anything substantive. I did not even know when the Bill would come out. When I hear from the Government that the Opposition never provides any constructive solutions, I will say that was a constructive Bill. The Government agreed it was constructive-----

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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