I thank my colleague, Deputy Jennifer Whitmore, for all of her work on this issue and all of her passion on it. Ireland's dog breeding system operates without any real oversight or much compassion and it desperately needs to be addressed. Something many people are not aware of is that we are the puppy farm capital of Europe. Thousands of dogs are exported from here every year and flown all over the world. It is ridiculous, cruel and incredibly lucrative. We need restrictions on the number of breeding dogs and the number of litters they can have over their lifetime. Without that, the system will continue to encourage breeders to push dogs way beyond their limits. We all know what the consequences of that are: dogs kept in appalling conditions and not getting the treatment they need; dogs who spend every waking minute terrified and in pain; dogs who are not socialised and have serious behavioural issues; and puppies that are born into simply horrendous conditions. The current staffing guidelines are absurd. It is recommended there is one staff member for 25 breeding females. If each of those has a litter of six, we are talking about one person being expected to care for 175 animals. That is not animal welfare; it is systemic neglect. Dogs need care and attention. They need to be fed, watered and loved. No one person can provide that for 175 dogs. Breeding standards should prioritise welfare over profit. Anyone working in animal welfare will tell you the same thing because they are the ones who are picking up the pieces of a system that encourages people to mass-produce animals like they are products to go on a shelf. Rescues are held to strict standards. They face inspections, audits and endless paperwork and scrape by on tiny grants from the Department of agriculture. Meanwhile, another arm of the same Department gives out breeding licences with almost no limits. How can a Department demand rigorous standards from those saving animals while giving free rein to those churning them out? It is completely ridiculous. Skibbereen Animal Rescue was founded in 1998 by Anita Douglas, who sadly passed away last year. She was an extraordinary woman who cared deeply for the animals in her care. During the pandemic, she took out a loan and used her pension to cover the costs to do this. That is who this broken system leans on. People like Anita hold everything together while puppy farms flourish. We need to fix this and we can. We need to cap the number of breeding bitches, restrict the number of litters, fix the staff ratios and fund rescues properly. If we want to be serious about dog welfare, we need to catch up and we need to do it now.

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