Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 15 December 2021

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Animal Health and Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021: Committee Stage

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The objective in putting the Bill together is to put a reasonable and common-sense structure to how we make a decision on what is appropriate compensation, and that it should not be done in the courts but rather the mechanisms as established in the Bill. That means there would be an assessor and independent overview of what the costs might be. It would be really important that this is fairly done, and that is why we are being as clear as we can in the legislation. It would also be important that regulations bring clarity to the process too.

We do not want it to be the case that the court process is used, partly because of the costs associated with it. Everyone will always have the right to appeal to the High Court but it is not where we might hope these decisions would be made. We hope that with the structure we have put in the Bill and a fair process, we would come to a good conclusion that would fairly reflect the outcome.

There are parallels and precedents for rights of appeal to the High Court. Having taken legal advice through the Attorney General's office and my Department, it seems the general precedent in this regard is to use the threshold of serious and significant errors. That is why I am making this adjustment in the legislation. It is based on the legal advice that this is the appropriate and normal legal threshold for an appeal to the High Court.

In terms of the compensation package structure, there is capacity for legal and other expenses for farmers to engage with the Department in finalising the compensation package. There is the support for the farmers around administration, including the potential for legal advice around engaging with the Department. Any decision to appeal to the High Court is a separate matter.

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