Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I support Deputy Ferris's comments. Members may not be aware of the severity of the fines that will be imposed on people arising from offences under this legislation. For example, subsection (12) of section 8 states: "The operator of a dog breeding establishment registered under this section shall display the registration certificate issued to him or her in respect thereof in a prominent position at that establishment." The Minister is proposing to increase the fine for a failure to meet this requirement to €5,000. That is completely out of proportion to what we are trying to achieve.

The Minister is using a sledgehammer to deal with the problems that exist. Instead of dealing with those problems effectively, he has included extraneous material to deal with aspects of industry that have regulated themselves quite well heretofore. He is introducing provision for draconian criminal prosecution that is entirely out of kilter with the types of measures required. A fine of €5,000 for failure to display a registration certificate correctly says it all in terms of the Minister's missionary zeal to implement a regime that is completely out of sync with reasonableness. He has utterly ignored the practical suggestions we on this side of the House have offered in the course of this debate.

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