Results 32,721-32,740 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: To be helpful, I believe this proposal may be a mistake. This provision pertains to the functions of an authorised officer and at present, the wording states "For the purposes of this Act or an EU measure an authorised officer may ... enter and inspect, at all reasonable times ... land or premises where he or she has reasonable grounds for believing that". This amendment proposes this...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: I move amendment No. 76: In page 39, subsection (1)(b), line 18, to delete “as” substitute “or”.Deputies Pringle and Ó Cuív have outlined a grammatical error which the Department also has picked up. The advice of the drafters is that substituting "or" for "as" is the best solution. I therefore have tabled this amendment and request Deputies Pringle and...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: I move amendment No. 78: In page 43, subsection (1), lines 43 and 44, to delete “on the sworn information” and substitute “by information on oath”.These are minor changes to sections in Part 10, the first of which is purely grammatical. Amendment No. 79 to section 50 will allow for a printed copy of a record that is maintained in electronic form to be used in...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: It is very straightforward, in that the wrong language was used and the amendment will replace "on sworn information" with "by information on oath".

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: Yes, but the court system operates on the basis of people swearing on oath.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: With respect, perhaps that is something we must take up with the Minister, Deputy Shatter. I am not sure whether I can deal with it in the Animal Health and Welfare Bill.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy's point is taken.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: A meeting can convene?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: It can make a recommendation to either House of the Oireachtas to annul that. It would then, obviously, need to be passed by a majority. I have some sympathy with Deputy Ó Cuív when he says we should try to make it a matter of course that a committee would be involved in discussing regulations. There are, however, times when the Minister needs to act quickly and may not have the...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: That is specifically for animal health levies.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: That exception is made within the context of section 26.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: I accept that but because there is money involved in section 26, because it is levied, there is an exception. The actual definition applies here.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: The process I outlined only takes place if there is an annulment of the regulation.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: They are. They are laid before the House but the approval process is normally a formality because it is often taken without debate.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: Yes, we do.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: Yes. If there is an annulment then that is when the three week period kicks in. If there is a proposal for an annulment from either House that is when the period starts.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: This, presumably, comes from the Deputy's experience as a Minister when he may not have been available to sign all the documentation to appoint an authorised officer. Subsection 37(3) states: A person with whom the Minister enters into a service agreement under section 74 may for the purposes of enforcing this Act, appoint in writing, with the consent of the Minister, such persons as he or...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: I understand that, now that the Deputy has clarified it, but that is not what the amendment says.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: The amended subsection would read: A person with whom the Minister or an authorised officer of the Department enters into a service agreement under section 74 may for the purposes of enforcing this Act, appoint in writing, with the consent of the Minister, such persons as he or she considers appropriate to be authorised officers for the purpose of all or any of the functions that the person...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Dec 2012)

Simon Coveney: The Deputy is proposing an amendment to line 34.