I know animal welfare is close to the Deputy Leader's heart. I was at the petitions committee earlier and a petition was looked at from My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue. It highlighted the concerns all rescues probably have. Last week a pregnant horse was found dying, tied up and neglected in a field in Rathcoole, County Dublin. She was abandoned by her owners to give birth and die in the field. When she was found, her two-day-old foal was already lying dead next to her. The images are distressing. The treatment is barbaric. My Lovely Horse Animal Rescue took her to veterinarians in UCD but, tragically, she did not survive the abuse and neglect of her owner.

Cases like this happen every day of the week all over the country and next to no action is being taken to investigate the perpetrators of animal cruelty or to prevent it from happening in the first place. There seem to be no consequences for people abusing animals and pets.

We can have all the strategies and plans we want but there is no enforcement. There needs to be enforcement. Thousands of dogs are handled by rescue centres each year but there are only 24 prosecutions each year, so that suggests a clear lack of enforcement. Over 3,000 greyhounds were killed last year and there are no consequences for that. There are no consequences for puppy farms and there are countless other examples of animal and pet abuse. I ask that either the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine or the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration come to the House to discuss the appalling abuse of animals in this country, which is tolerated by society.