Animal Welfare
Dail Éireann — 2025-10-14
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

We are reviewing the legislation. This is a responsibility that has come into my domain in recent months. As a Deputy who was part of the negotiating team for the programme for Government, and having been a Minister of State in the Department of agriculture, I was really keen for this to come under the remit of agriculture. I thought it was the right fit and that it is the right place for it to be. Mindful that I might be in this role, this is something I was very keen to see in the Department's remit. I am glad it is there and I want to work on it and progress it during my time as Minister.
Deputy Lawlor referred to the sale of pets. My Department previously introduced a statutory instrument, the Animal Health and Welfare (Sale or Supply of Pet Animals) Regulations. The regulations put into law certain requirements for sellers and suppliers of pet animals, including the minimum age for the sale of certain mammals, record keeping, registration with my Department and the provision of specific information about pets in advertisements. Under these regulations, anyone who sells or supplies six or more pet animals in a year must register with my Department and must submit an inspection report signed by a private veterinary practitioner as part of the registration process. We will review every measure and make sure that, if it is not as robust as we would like, we will change it and make it more robust. I look forward to working with Deputy Lawlor on this.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-10-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-14