Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not have anecdotal evidence, but I am sure we can provide the Deputy with some examples. If one looks at best practice in animal welfare legislation, for example, what has been done in the United Kingdom, we are trying to move from requiring proof from the investigating body before it can do anything to try to intervene early to prevent cruelty and the spread of disease. It means taking action before things get serious or a minor welfare problem turns into a significant one. There have been a number of cases not only of domestic cruelty but also of it happening on farms where animals were totally neglected for whatever reason and in some cases died. There was a case in north Cork where a large number of pigs died of starvation. I want to ensure we have the law on our side in terms of authorised officers intervening early in such cases, as opposed to taking a prosecution in an awful cruelty case after it has happened. This legislation is about early intervention. It is about authorised officers taking a minor action such as issuing a welfare notice. It means saying to somebody: "What you are doing is not acceptable, but if you do X, Y or Z over the next three weeks, that will be the end of it." That is the type of intervention we want, whereby authorised officers work with people to ensure animal welfare is improved as opposed to being obliged to wait for unfortunate and, in some cases, nasty incidents to happen and then having to mop up the mess and take a court case with the evidence available. That is the way the law is structured and it is weak. I do not wish to exaggerate this point, although I probably am, but it is important that authorised officers can get on with their job if they have reasonable grounds for believing something is wrong, as opposed to having to wait until they can gather evidence.