A husband and wife have been given five-month suspended jail sentences, after a court in west Cork was told they kept 50 dogs and more than 20 pups in conditions which were filthy and stinking.
William and Eleanor Sheehy of Grange More, Timoleague, Co Cork, were also fined €6,000 each and ordered to pay costs of thousands of euro.
They pleaded guilty at the District Court to six animal health and welfare charges each, brought against them by the Department of Agriculture.
The couple, who were described in court as dog lovers at heart, were given a licence by Cork County Council to breed dogs at an old piggery on their dairy farm in Timoleague, west Cork.
But when an ISPCA Welfare Inspector visited on two occasions in March last year, she said it was filthy and stinking and there were faeces everywhere.
Welfare Inspector Caroline Faherty said some of the dogs appeared to have conjunctivitis and alopecia; there were discharges from their ears and their coats were matted.
Ms Faherty said one of the dogs, a Newfoundland, was extremely emaciated and her coat was like cement.
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The dogs also included cocker spaniels, poodles, cavaliers, bichons, Bernese mountain dogs, Jack Russells and collies.
The case was finalised at the District Court in Bandon.
Imposing penalties, Judge Monika Leech described the dogs as vulnerable, defenceless animals who had been subjected to lives of misery.
She said the evidence presented showed absolute neglect and a clear absence of care.
Mitigating factors were the couple's guilty pleas and the absence of previous convictions against them, she said.
But, Judge Leech added, the extent of the neglect and suffering and the absence of an improvement in conditions on a return visit by Ms Faherty were aggravating factors.
She sentenced both William and Eleanor Sheehy to five months in jail, suspended on condition that the couple pay €12,822 in costs for re-habilitating and re-homing 14 dogs already surrendered to the ISPCA, along with the costs of re-homing the remaining dogs at the dog breeding operation, which she ordered to be surrendered immediately.
Both William and Eleanor Sheehy have been disqualified from owning or breeding dogs for the rest of their lives.
Recognizances were fixed in the event of an appeal.
