Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I want to talk about the animal welfare officer. In Mr. Gleeson's reply to us, he told us that the animal welfare officer is responsible for assisting the business operation to ensure compliance with the relevant welfare legislation within the plant and requires a more extensive level of training than the other plant operatives dealing with and handling live animals. The application to the Department for designation as the animal welfare officer must include evidence of having passed a specific course, the one we talked about with Teagasc, and must contain a signed, written declaration that the applicant has committed no serious infringement of EU or national law for the protection of animals. Infringement does not mean conviction. Even a pending prosecution would fall within that category, am I right on that?