FF call to stop cross-country dog dealing
FIANNA Fáil Justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan has urged gardaí to stop dog dealers breaking emergency lockdown laws by traversing the country to deliver pups.
The call comes after a man who drove 450km to pick up two pups was this week sentenced to four weeks in prison.
The 36-year-old pleaded guilty to breaching the restrictions by driving from his home in Co Derry to Co Kerry to buy the two animals.
He is now appealing the severity of the sentence handed down at Tralee District Court and has been released on recognisance of €900.
He was stopped at a routine Operation Fanacht checkpoint near Killarney on Thursday.
He had earlier been stopped and told to return to Derry after claiming to be working for a security firm but was unable to produce photo ID.
Mr O’Callaghan now wants Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan to investigate revelations in the Irish Mail on Sunday that breeders are offering to deliver designer pups to buyers’ homes.
The Department of Health and Department of Agriculture both confirmed that commercial sales of dogs are non-essential activities.
In a statement to this newspaper, Mr O’Callaghan said: ‘Animal rescue shelters suspended their work in line with the Government restrictions and dog breeders continue to sell animals. Travelling up and down the country is not in accordance with the imposed restrictions and should be stopped. I am calling on the Minister for
Justice to ask the Garda Commissioner to investigate these reports and take the appropriate actions.’
The Irish Mail on Sunday previously revealed that one breeder had offered to deliver €1,000 pups to buyers’ ‘selfisolated homes’. The ad was posted on Done Deal five days after the March 27 lockdown.
As these breeding establishments are typically located in remote rural locations, this would likely involve considerable travel by breeders or buyers to transfer the pup.
Ads posted in the past two days offered to ‘deliver in the midlands’. One breeder says ‘delivery can be arranged to the right home’, while another breeder of €2,000 pups said that viewings were ‘welcome’.
Minister for Community Affairs Sean Canney accused breeders of ‘profiteering’ and warned that anyone found in breach of emergency new laws ‘will face the full rigour of the law’. The website Done Deal declined to say whether it would remove ads that breach the lockdown rules.