Two weeks ago in this House, I stated that users of the website dogs.ie can be 99% sure that they are buying a puppy farm dog. I want to correct this previous statement. I clarify that there is only an alarmingly high probability they are buying a puppy farm dog. Dogs.ie is an American-based website that is central to the puppy farming we have in this country. It provides breeders and sellers an opaque online marketplace that allows them to easily turn a profit. Industrial-scale puppy farms clearly make huge profits from this platform. Dogs.ie states that it does not actively encourage puppy farming or exploitative breeding, but it is clear that it is more than happy to turn a blind eye to abusive practices if this means extracting a profit. These sorts of websites clearly incentivise and reward extractive breeding practices that can place profit over the well-being of dogs.

Dogs.ie openly told me via email that it takes no responsibility for the physical conditions at the establishments they facilitate. That to me is completely unacceptable and shows the urgent need for these websites to be further regulated and made liable for the breeders and sellers that they choose to platform. A casual browse of dogs.ie will show many dogs advertised for sale from puppy farms with 100, 200 and up to 300 breeding females on site. That is 300 dogs, excluding the puppies, at any given time locked up and used to pump out puppies. I would not even call that a puppy farm. I would call that a puppy factory. Many of these high-volume breeding establishments are well known to have atrocious animal welfare standards, yet they are able to make huge profits on dogs.ie. Allowing sellers such as these to use the site was a deliberate choice by dogs.ie to facilitate puppy farming and it is wrong.

It is my belief that people should adopt dogs from local shelters or purchase them directly from reputable breeding establishments that are visibly in compliance with strict animal welfare standards, rather than via online platforms that can be used by breeders who act in bad faith to hide abusive practices behind a polished advertisement. I welcome the Government’s upcoming legislation in this area. It will make a difference if enacted and properly enforced, but there are significant gaps. In particular, it is vital that this legislation caps the scale of breeding establishments to prevent industrial-scale breeding operations. The DSPCA and many other groups have recommended a cap of 30 breeding females, and I believe that the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Department of agriculture need to be willing to engage on this point.

Well said.