Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 15:

In page 18, between lines 38 and 39, to insert the following:“(12) The restriction contained in subsection (1)(e) does not prevent the training of an animal, for the purpose of domesticating the animal and making it safe to manage by persons competent to train that animal, provided that—

(a) unnecessary suffering is not thereby caused to the animal, and

(b) any activity involved in the training of the animal is not prohibited by animal health and welfare regulations.”.

I hope the Deputies will not be divided on this amendment. This is referred to in my Department as the horse-whisperer amendment. There has been some concern over the section of the Bill to which it pertains. I have had it re-examined and am happy this provision will not be used as a basis for prosecutions against either farmers or educators, no matter how misguided or ill-informed future regulators may be.

It was suggested that we add a clause making it clear that normal farming practices are not covered by the section. Aside from the difficulty with defining "normal farming practices", there is another problem in that if we specified that this concept was not covered, we would need to allow for every other legitimate activity that might involve animals, including those of riding schools, sports events and even walking the dog. Obviously, the list would never be complete and would be pointless. However, I am proposing a slight amendment in regard to the roping of horses. As currently worded, performances involving this activity are banned whether they cause suffering or not. However, there are some specialists in this area who carry out this activity in a very humane and non-coercive fashion. My amendment proposes to allow such activity were no unnecessary suffering is caused. That is made quite clear in the amendment and I hope it will be accepted by the Deputies opposite.

See this speech in context