Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

Amendment No. 1, which took on board a similar amendment tabled in the Dáil by Deputies Naughten and Crawford, provides for greater transparency in the Veterinary Council's affairs by requiring that details of gifts received should be shown in its annual report.

The purpose of amendments Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 9, which concern section 33, is to address an issue raised by the council with my Department regarding removal from the register of persons who fail to pay the requisite registration fee. This procedure had previously been dealt with in section 79, which provides for disciplinary procedures arising from fitness to practise proceedings. Through amendment No. 2, the council is enabled to remove a person for non-payment after a period of three months following the due date. However, the council has been given leeway to decide if there are extenuating circumstances, which would justify retention of a person in a particular case. Consequential amendments arose in sections 79 and 86, with the latter section being deleted.

The third grouping is amendments Nos. 8 and 22 to 25, inclusive. During the passage of the Bill through the House, there was considerable debate about the powers of entry that would be given to authorised officers of the council. I indicated that, having considered the matter since publication of the legislation, I had considerable sympathy with many of the views expressed and that I was in consultation with the Attorney General on the matter.

I tabled amendments in the Dáil to address the essential concerns about powers of entry to be granted to authorised officers of the council. Authorised officers when carrying out an investigation on behalf of the council, will have to obtain a search warrant to enter any premises, be it a veterinary premises or otherwise. However, as provided for in the new section 128, authorised officers will be enabled to carry out routine inspections in the context of the grant or renewal of certificates of suitability without the need for a search warrant on the assumption that the application will give his or her consent to enter the premises concerned. The substantive amendment arises in section 127 with consequential amendments arising in sections 75, 125, 126, 128 and 129.