Cocker Spaniel Pup

The Cocker Spaniel Club of Ireland is your best bet: http://www.cscoi.ie/ or keeping a close eye on rescue pages. For decent breeders, the waiting lists are usually long so it will be a wait either way.

Whilst there are undoubtedly plenty of backyard breeders out there, cockers can suffer from a devastating idiopathic rage syndrome and it is most definitely not worth the risk of getting a dog with that gene bred into it (been there!). There's a whole host of reasons not to purchase from those types of breeders, but particularly in dogs with those sort of gene mutations.

But isn't there a good chance most rescue dogs will be from the unscrupulous breeders bought by people who didn't do any due diligence before purchasing. Breeder with a good track record is your best bet .

Absolutely, but the hope is the rescue would have the dog temperament tested beforehand. If they are a decent rescue anyway.