Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his proposal. One of my concerns is that authorised officers could be allowed to carry out tasks currently carried out by veterinary officers or by personnel with veterinary qualifications. In the current budgetary climate, that might seem attractive to the Department in terms of changing the roles and functions. The proposal just outlined by the Minister could be an acceptable solution but it appears to me that section 37 already provides those powers to the Minister vis-à-vis authorised officers. Amendment No. 1, which seeks to add veterinary practitioners to the definition of authorised officers, would not really have any negative impact on what the Minister has referred to but would give recognition to the fact that veterinary officers are people who can be considered authorised officers as well as veterinary officers.