{"id":184955,"date":"2025-12-10T14:33:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T14:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/184955\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T14:33:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T14:33:07","slug":"irelands-shameful-reputation-as-puppy-farm-capital-of-europe-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/184955\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s \u2018shameful reputation\u2019 as puppy farm capital of Europe \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Puppy farms are \u201ca profit model gone absolutely mad\u201d where an industry can gain a huge amount of money at the expense of vulnerable animals, the D\u00e1il<\/a> has heard during a debate on dog welfare.<\/p>\n

Social Democrats<\/a> TD Jennifer Whitmore highlighted the \u201cnightmare situation\u201d in some breeding establishments. <\/p>\n

\u201cA pregnant female dog can be bred over and over and over again in horrific conditions, dirty, cramped, cold, often with not enough water or light, matted, covered in sores, not getting any care, not getting any love, any human interaction, but really just been seen as this production line to pump out pup after pup\u201d.<\/p>\n

TDs highlighted Ireland\u2019s \u201cshameful reputation\u201d as the puppy farm capital of Europe with up to 30,000 animals exported annually in an industry estimated to be worth \u20ac120 million to \u20ac200 million. Legislation allows for up to 300 breeding bitches per establishment.<\/p>\n

Ms Whitmore said \u201cfemale dogs can have up to six litters in their lifetimes and dogs as young as four months old, only puppies themselves, can be forced to have their own pups. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese terrified mother dogs are breeding absolutely terrified pups,\u201d and both have \u201chorrific\u201d health and behavioural problems. <\/p>\n

These pups are sold to families expecting a \u201cgorgeous little bundle of joy\u201d but getting \u201ca little pup that\u2019s never been socialised, may never have had much human interaction because they\u2019re often fed by automatic machines\u201d.<\/p>\n

The pup becomes a real challenge for families and \u201cit is a conveyor belt of misery\u201d with huge welfare concerns.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Dogs are being treated as substitute children. How did we end up here?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Introducing the Dog Welfare (Amendment) Bill, the Wicklow TD said it caps the number of breeding females on site at 30, introduces a 16-month minimum age for breeding and an eight-year maximum age for breeding, maximum of one litter per year per breeding female, a maximum of four litters per breeding female during her lifetime, and a minimum age of ten weeks for pup separation, with a one to 10 staff to animal ratio for proper care. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt also bans surgical artificial insemination and other harmful practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Whitmore said there isn\u2019t sufficient oversight with rescue organisations left to pick up the pieces and they \u201care exhausted\u201d, overwhelmed by the number of dogs being handed in or abandoned \u201cand it\u2019s all down to a lack of regulation\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"SocialSocial Democrats party leader Holly Cairns. Photograph: Alan Betson<\/p>\n

Social Democrats party leader Holly Cairns said \u201cwe are the puppy farm capital of Europe. Thousands of dogs are exported every year\u201d and \u201cit is cruel and it is incredibly lucrative\u201d. <\/p>\n

Current staffing guidelines are \u201cabsurd\u201d with one staff member recommended for 25 breeding females. With each dog having a litter of six one person could be expected to care for 175 animals, she said. \u201cThat isn\u2019t animal welfare, it is systemic neglect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding for the Government, Minister of State for Agriculture Noel Grealish initially introduced a 12-month timed amendment, but it was later confirmed that the legislation will be reconsidered in nine months.<\/p>\n

Mr Grealish said the delay is to allow for the completion of two \u201congoing processes\u201d including a public consultation on the next animal welfare strategy to run from 2026 to 2030 which is a \u201ctopic of enormous and growing importance\u201d about how society values and treats all animals.<\/p>\n

A high-level dog control stakeholder group is also currently looking at policy and legislation on control, breeding and welfare and is expected to report in 2026. A sub-group \u201chas spent significant time looking at dog breeding establishments\u201d.<\/p>\n

He pledged that officials would meet and brief Ms Whitmore and \u201cmake sure that you are constantly contacted\u201d and kept updated on the issue.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in agriculture spokesman Martin Kenny believed there are fewer \u201cthan 20 breeders in Ireland that have more than 30 bitches\u201d. <\/p>\n

It was quite a low number but it needs to be \u201cintensively monitored\u201d. He said the number of pups going to the UK had been very large but \u201cI think that has gone down somewhat in recent years\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said they needed to see the stakeholder group\u2019s work on this area and to get accurate data.<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s George Lawlor said there is also an issue with \u201ckitten farming\u201d of specialist breeds, where \u201cthe suffering it causes is every bit as real\u201d. He said \u201cwe must also get ahead of this issue before it becomes another real problem\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Dogs are being treated as substitute children. How did we end up here?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Puppy farms are \u201ca profit model gone absolutely mad\u201d where an industry can gain a huge amount of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15049,61,60,100080,43,1419],"class_list":["post-184955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dail-eireann","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jennifer-whitmore","tag-news","tag-social-democrats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}