It is really important that we be clear about the central question we are debating here and will vote on tonight. This is a law that seeks to reduce cruelty to dogs. It is important for the hundreds of thousands of dog owners and lovers in this country who know the innate sense of injustice and fury when they see or hear of a dog being mistreated. I have heard that sense from many of the Deputies who have contributed already today but it is important for those dog lovers to know that this Bill will be delayed tonight for 12 months. Law that would lessen cruelty to dogs in this country will be kicked down the road for a year. I want to thank Deputy Whitmore for bringing forward this important Bill and we in the Green Party will support it. Commercial-scale dog breeding is not something I will pretend to have any regard for even with regulation in place. It is an industry that prioritises profit over welfare where profit is the product of how efficiently and at how large a scale litters of puppies can be bred and born. That is why Deputy Whitmore’s Bill is so welcome. It seeks to amend a piece of legislation that was introduced by my former colleague, John Gormley, when he was Minister in 2010, which was the first measure to attempt to regulate the factory-like breeding of dogs in Ireland. At that time, that particular law was strongly supported by animal welfare groups and by veterinary campaigners. Fifteen years on from that law, the measures being proposed in the Bill today are absolutely necessary to ensure we have an effective, humane regulatory system in place where dog breeding is taking place. In particular, I welcome the proposed measures to regulate breeding practices that would address some of the physically extreme practices that can cause significant suffering for dogs, like a minimum age for breeding, like a maximum number of litters per year, like an annual breeding limit and a minimum age for separation. Perhaps most critically, it looks to outlaw the horrendous practice of surgical artificial insemination. I know this was something Deputy Quaide focused on in his contribution and it is an issue on which I have been raising parliamentary questions in recent months. Surgical artificial insemination is an issue that is long past time for action. The Veterinary Council of Ireland has already updated its code of practice to include a prohibition on canine surgical artificial insemination across all breeds, including greyhounds. It is banned in the UK and New Zealand. It is an absolutely unnecessary procedure that inflicts significant pain and creates a risk of infection to the dog to simply maximise litters and ultimately profit. It must be banned by statute and that ban must be enforced. Any breaches must carry strict penalties and that ban must include greyhounds as well. Of course, what has always been remarkable to me is that when it comes to legislating for animal welfare in Ireland, it is the people who are firmly on the side of change. People in Ireland are shocked to hear about some of the practices that take place on animals in our own country. It has always been my experience that the vast majority of Irish people, rural and urban alike, want a humane regulatory system in place that seeks to put the welfare of animals at its heart but every time it comes to actually making even a small change, the political fight is entrenched. It is vitriolic. Those proposing changes are attacked and it is escalated into some sort of perverse city versus country culture war. That is done as a very deliberate tactic. I remember in 2010 when the Green Party introduced the puppy farming regulation Bill and a ban on stag hunting, the money and effort that were put into AstroTurfing a lobby was absolutely incredible. People should be in no doubt about the difficulty with which legislating to improve the lot of animals is resisted politically in this country. Again, what always amazes me is that opposition to change is coming from tiny, unrepresentative interest groups. Although they are unrepresentative, they are able to generate such noise that the larger parties bend to their will every single time. It is essential that this Bill, or an identical version from the Government, be passed during the lifetime of this Dáil. I do not accept the justification for a 12-month delay, and I will oppose that delay tonight, but in 12 months' time when the Bill does advance, the Green Party and I look forward to supporting Deputy Whitmore in advancing it and seeing it passed.

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