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

I move amendment No. 29a:

In page 18, subsection (7), line 2, after “not,” to insert “save for an investigative purpose or”.

This amendment deals with line 2 of subsection (7) where the Bill currently says "A person shall not, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, record an animal fight or performance by photograph, video or any other means." We are adding the caveat, “save for an investigative purpose". This makes provision for a situation where someone needs to gather evidence. If, for example, a Garda undercover operation is being undertaken with the aim of putting together a complete file in order to take someone to court and gardaí are recording a dog fight in order to gather evidence, we do not want to make that illegal. We will come to Deputy Ferris' amendment, No. 29c, but I believe it is necessary to insert that rider.