Speaking at the Animal Welfare conference held in Farmleigh today, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, announced his Department was providing funding of €100,000 towards a new Dog Microchipping initiative.

In order to assist animal welfare charities with their Microchipping initiatives, Minister Coveney said “I am making €100,000 available in order to facilitate the micochipping of dogs. Charities with a proven track record in this work are eligible to apply for funding from my Department under this measure.”

Under the new regulations owners must ensure that:

• all pups born from June 2015 onwards must be microchipped by the age of 12 weeks.
• from September onwards all pups being offered for sale must be identified by way of microchip.
• from March 2016 onwards, all dogs in the country must be microchipped.

Commenting on this, the Minister said that “Under the regulations, owners must not just ensure their dog is microchipped, they must also ensure that they are registered with correct contact details on an Authorised Database.”  Minister Coveney said that applications from a number of Databases have been received and as they are authorised, they are being listed on the Department of Agriculture’s website.

Puppy farms – Joint Inspection Regime

Minister Coveney also announced that a joint inspection regime of Dog Breeding Establishments, (“puppy farms”) involving  Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine veterinary inspectors and the veterinary services of the Local Authorities had commenced in recent weeks. Over 50% of registered establishments have now been inspected and inspections are ongoing. The Department has also undertaken a number of inspections with the various NGO’s.

Sourcing of Pets

The Minister told delegates “When sourcing dogs, there are many charitable organisations such as Dogs Trust, DSPCA and ISPCA and many others who are involved in the rescue and re-homing of dogs, where you can acquire a pet suitable to your circumstances. In addition, there are many responsible breeders you can go to where you can be confident that the health and welfare of the animals have been well looked after. These responsible breeders will be happy to show you the dogs in their home environment and can provide suitable supporting documentation in relation to the dog’s health, vaccination status, microchip number and registration. You should avoid buying dogs from unknown individuals and of unknown provenance as these are less likely to have been bred in a welfare satisfactory environment’.

Irish Pet Advertising Advisory Group’s (IPAAG) Minimum Standards for Online Classified Advertising Websites.

Commenting on the on-line advertising of pets, Minister Coveney endorsed the recently introduced Irish Pet Advertising Advisory Group’s (IPAAG) minimum standards for online advertising websites. He said “I am encouraged by the fact that animal welfare groups have worked together with the veterinary profession and with online retailers to develop guidelines for the advertising of animals online that will help ensure the welfare of animals being sold is protected.”

Urban Horses

Referring to his desire to promote and encourage good care and welfare of horses in urban environments, Minister Coveney said that he has allocated €1million to support the development of facilities for the urban horse population and to address the issue of the care and welfare of horses.  Such projects will need to ensure that, in addition to suitable facilities, there are suitable management and governance structures in place and that proposals submitted are financially sustainable in the longer term.

Review of Control of Horses Act

Minister Coveney said that a review of the Control of Horses Act 1996, which was commenced following the 2014 Animal Welfare Conference, is at an advanced stage.  A range of interested organisations have been consulted. The Minister said that if others wish to make submissions, they should be submitted to the Animal Health & Welfare Division of the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine by the end of June.

The Animal Welfare hotline is 076-1064408

NOTE FOR EDITORS:

MICROCHIPPING OF DOGS REGULATIONS 2015

 These are set out in Statutory Instrument No. 63 of 2015.

 http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/pdf/2015/en.si.2015.0063.pdf

The legislative approach adopted follows practice in NI and UK whereby dogs must be chipped and registered with one of a number of approved private databases. A new national database is not desirable due to the cost of new IT systems, nor is it necessary as this would merely duplicate existing services provided by existing private databases already operating in the marketplace.

Databases will be required to be part of europetnet.ie, which acts as a clearing house for searches of microchip numbers. Other standards relate to their reunification service, suitable IT security and architecture and especially robust procedures around registration of new dogs and change of ownership. In relation to change of ownership sign off by both seller and purchaser will be needed. This is designed to ensure a high level of accountability in dog ownership and make sure that the registered owner details are up to date and correct. This is important as the risk of rabies or other diseases has increased with greater movements of people and animals.

Concerning those responsible owners who have already had their dogs microchipped, the vast majority of these will be compliant with the new regulations which will require that the microchip used be ISO compliant and that the microchip details are registered on a database.  It is important that dog owners ensure that the registered details are up to date and correct so that if their dog is lost they can be contacted.

View Press Release as a PDF:  DAFMPR 105/2015 (pdf 544Kb) 

Date Released: 12 June 2015