Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I move amendment No. 12:

In page 4 between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following new subsection:

"(2) The Minister shall, on application by a person entitled to a certificate under subsection (1), issue such a certificate as soon as practicable after such an application.".

There is a strange omission from the section in that while an individual is required to produce a certificate issued by the Minister under section 5(1), the Minister has no obligation to issue a certificate to persons entitled to one. We have had many debates about bureaucracy and red tape in the area of agriculture. I believe this would be a move in the right direction and would inject some balance into this section of the Bill.