I think the lack of seriousness of the Minister of State's response was incredible. I have to say it was quite shocking. He did not even take any significant amount of his allocated time for the response. I am a cat owner, not a dog owner, but I know that many of my fellow cat owners will be very supportive. I was sitting this morning with my cat, listening to Deputy Whitmore on "Morning Ireland", and the cat meowed at me. I think she meowed in approval, though I am not quite sure. I am here anyway supporting this and I want to congratulate Deputy Whitmore for the incredible work she has done and the leadership she has shown on this. Of course, dogs are central to our lives today. They also central to Irish mythology, our language and our history. There are some lovely seanfhocail, drawing on dogs, which give wisdom on life in general. One for example is, "Is dána gach madra in ndoras a thí féin", which means "every dog is daring on his own doorstep". Another one is, "Ag cur madraí i bhfuinneoga", which means "putting dogs in windows", which actually is a phrase to describe attempts to distract people. This is a good description of the Government and a lot of its housing policy. More broadly on this, I want to talk about the ongoing issues of animal cruelty that happen and which this Bill addresses. Dogs are part of our families. The idea that dogs and other animals are somehow separate from humans is something that a lot of people are trying to challenge. Many see this separation between us when there is none. They are part of us. We are all living beings on this planet together and of course we should be living together, but there is so much horrific cruelty. I want to flag the issue of housing and the situation whereby we are now seeing mass evictions. Many people are being forced out of their homes and are then having to get rid of their pets because they cannot be taken into emergency accommodation. On top of the trauma of losing their home, families and, in particular, children are going through the trauma of losing their pets because this Government has completely failed to ensure people have a home and to prevent them from being evicted. On top of that, we still have a disgraceful situation whereby most private rental accommodation does not allow people to have pets. Representatives from Dogs Trust say that one of the main reasons people contact them is because they have to move to a rental home where pets are not allowed. They have to go through the heartbreak of surrendering their family pets. As well as explaining to their children that they have to leave their home, they also have to explain why part of the family - the pets - cannot come with them. This month, I was in touch with a woman who was facing the direct trauma of homelessness. She had been trying day and night to find a home for herself but was not able to do so. They lost their home and they also lost their pets. This needs to be addressed too.

Sentiment score: -0.05