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

Part of the Minister of State's response reads, "The mandatory staffing ratio of 1:20 creates an indirect but real constraint on establishment size." I am really not sure what the rationale behind that is. I assume the Minister of State means that people will not want to employ a lot of staff because it is a cost to them, but if somebody has 20 breeding females and each has an average of five pups, you are looking at 100 pups. That is a minimum of €100,000. It is a lot of money. This is big business. I do not think having to pay a staff member minimum wage to mind the pups is going to be much of a constraint. I ask the Minister of State to ensure there is a proper constraint on the size of these premises, which are essentially production lines. The only way to do that is to put in a cap. I ask that the Minister of State look at a cap. If the Attorney General needs to look at other countries that have brought in similar measures for guidance as to how to do it, I suggest he do so. It is fundamental that a cap is included in the legislation.
In November, the consultation on the animal welfare strategy began. It closed in January. Nothing has been published yet. There are still no details and we have not seen the submissions from that consultation. The dog control stakeholder group was established in 2024. I believe that group has reported, although I am not sure. When is the Minister going to publish both of those reports? It is really important that he is transparent about whatever came out of those two consultation processes. The results must form part of the discussions on the development of this Bill.

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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