Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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I seek clarification on a few points. The Minister of State is saying that it is not appropriate to include regulations on natural mating in regulations on artificial insemination. Would it be advisable to insert a separate section to deal with this matter? We are discussing animal welfare and, as anyone familiar with the industry knows, natural mating can have welfare issues. It seems strange that there will be regulations governing one type of mating when there will be none governing natural matings or insemination using frozen semen. There are three different forms of mating. If the Minister of State is saying that it is not appropriate to group them together like this, would it be appropriate instead to have a section governing each?