asked the Minister for Justice if he can state (a) the number of institutions and persons in the Saorstát holding licences for the practice of vivisection, (b) the classes and terms of the licences issued, (c) the number of inspectors employed on supervision, (d) whether it is the invariable rule of the Department that all visits by the inspectors must be surprise visits and not notified visits, (e) whether reports are periodically furnished, (f) the number of abuses detected in the calendar year 1926, (g) the source of supply of animals, particularly dogs, used in the experiments.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - VIVISECTION IN SAORSTÁT.
The number of institutions in Saorstát Eireann in which vivisection experiments may be performed is fourteen. Amongst these institutions there are in all 19 places registered for the performance of experiments. The number of persons holding Vivisection Licences during the year 1926 was twenty-six.
The licences are all similar, with the exception that each licence specifies the place in which the experiments must be performed. I shall furnish the Deputy with a specimen licence showing the conditions thereof.
There is one inspector appointed under the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, who deals with all places in Dublin registered under the Act. The only registered premises outside Dublin are the University Colleges of Cork and Galway, where the Medical Inspectors of the Department of Local Government and Public Health perform the duties under the Act.
The arrangements for making visits of inspection are left in the hands of the inspectors. At least two visits per year must be made to each registered place. There is no invariable rule that all visits must be surprise visits.
Reports of work done under the Act can be called for at any time. At the moment the returns of experiments performed during 1926 are being collected.
No abuses were detected during 1926.
The persons licensed under the Act make their own arrangements with regard to obtaining a supply of animals for experiments. The use of dogs for experimental purposes is not general, the animals usually employed being rabbits and guinea pigs. No experiments can be performed on dogs unless the licensee holds a special certificate under the Act, and such experiments are allowed only in exceptional circumstances.