Vol. 499 No. 3
271 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if he has given consideration to enable old age pensioners to obtain dog licences free of charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2810/99]
The suggestion has been made from time to time that there should be exemptions from the licence fee for certain categories of dog owner, such as old age pensioners. The dog licence fee, which amounts to less than 20p per week, constitutes a small part of the overall cost of keeping a dog and should not be an undue burden to dog owners. In addition, an exemption scheme would be potentially difficult and expensive to administer, this would be likely to outweigh the benefits arising from it. In the circumstances I do not propose to introduce such a scheme.
