Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I agree with Senator Dardis that we should not allow an endless expansion of the council. I am satisfied that the Minister plans to have limited expansion. I support Senator Coonan's amendment because the group most affected by the legislation, perhaps only in a minimal way, is the farming community. The signal we should send from the House is that we recognise that the farming community, more than any other sector, has traditionally had animal welfare at the core of its practice. We should try to ensure that it has a leading role in the new council.

I concede that the other nominees the Minister could choose could provide for strong representation from the farming community but it would be appropriate to specifically nominate a full-time farmer. The number of full-time farmers might be decreasing but there are still tens of thousands of them. I ask the Minister to send a strong signal of support to the farming community by making statutory provision for the membership on the council of a representative from that community.