Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It needs to be. If children have animals, the parents, carers or guardians must be ultimately amendable to the law because one cannot deal directly with a five year old for being cruel to a cat, dog or a hamster. We could have an interesting debate on this issue. The issue of the misuse of animals arises every year because animals are bought, then they are abandoned and nobody wants to know about them.

This issue is fascinating. We will go through the issues as we deal with the Bill. The Minister is not rescinding the ban on stag hunting even though that was promised when he came into Government. I am not saying he should or should not do it. We might be able to discuss the reasons for that on Committee Stage.

Ba mhaith liom moladh a thabhairt don Aire as ucht an Bille a thabhairt ar aghaidh agus do oifigigh na Roinne as an obair ar fad atá déanta acu ar an mBille. Bille fíor thábhachtach é.

Labhair mé anonn is anall ar go leor eochairphointí san mBille ach, ar ndóigh, nuair a thiocfar chomh fada le Céim an Choiste rachaimid tríd an mBille, céim ar chéim agus mír ar mhír. Scrúdóimid gach rud, beimid ag cur síos leasaithe agus nuair a bhéas na leasaithe sin á bplé beimid in ann a fheiceáil an bhfuil gach mír den mBille foirfe nó nach bhfuil. Dar liomsa, is í an teist ar aon Bhille a fhágann an Teach an raibh an t-Aire sásta glacadh le leasaithe nó nach raibh.

I have touched on a large number of provisions in the Bill but we will go through it systematically section by section on Committee Stage and we will come back to them on Report Stage. I often think the measure of good legislation is how much the Minister can convince the Opposition that amendments they put down are not needed because they are already covered in the Bill, or that if the Opposition puts up a good argument the Minister is willing to reflect on it and return with, if necessary, alternative amendments and is willing to make amendments if, on listening to the debate, good arguments are put forward for changing and developing a Bill. None of us has a monopoly of wisdom. It is a waste not to use all the talents of the House to make sure that we have the best legislation possible.

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