Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 26 March 2019

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Greyhound Racing Bill 2018: Committee Stage

Photo of Andrew DoyleAndrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To go back to my original statement, section 26(1) allows the board to make regulations with the consent of the Minister, setting down in secondary legislation the precise type of distinction or restriction. The legislation refers to artificial insemination and Deputy Cahill is saying that there is a difference between that and the use of frozen semen. There may well be, at some stage, another process that will evolve that is not natural. It could involve, for example, the use of chilled semen. The Bill provides, in section 26(1), an enabling power for the board, with the consent of the Minister, to lay down in secondary legislation details covering evolving science or new scientific techniques. It is a complex area but the term "artificial insemination" captures all except the natural methods. There may well be a time in the future when technology evolves further but if we nail things down in primary legislation, we will have no ability to amend regulations in secondary legislation to reflect changes or advances in the area.

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