Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There has been a lot of consensus here. I would like to stress one point. It would be possible to decide on a date of 1 January 2017, and have it so that from 1 January 2016 it would be the preferred and encouraged choice, but would not yet be absolutely mandatory. The 2% who might not go for it fast could seriously disrupt it in the short term. By the time the initial year is up and everyone else is in the system, the rest are going to tell that 2% that it is working and there is no hassle, because they will have done it. By doing it with an initial, voluntary year and then making it compulsory on 2 January 2017 it can be done without a row. I do not think that in three, four, or five years' time anyone would regret the one year of having it as a preferred solution rather than making it absolutely mandatory for every last animal. It would be a big price to pay for getting it there and getting it accepted. Once the vast majority are doing it the rest will fall in line, we all know that in politics. I have found one thing all the time - rushing it is the slowest way to proceed. Give me a clever and sensible plan to get people there over a fixed time. That normally gets it to endgame faster and with less difficulty. I suspect we would find after a few months that we already had virtually full compliance.