Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

This issue was the subject of much discussion in both Houses. With regard to farms, there must be reasonable suspicion before an application can be made to the court. I have provided for equity in this matter in that a search warrant must be obtained regardless.

The fourth grouping is amendments Nos. 11, 12 and 14 to 19, inclusive. These relate to the accreditation of veterinary premises, which will be put on a statutory footing for the first time under the legislation. During the passage of the Bill through the House, a number of amendments were made to section 106 to better define instances where the certificate of suitability should not apply. Following further reflection, particularly on the exemptions aspect and on amendments tabled in the Dáil, I tabled a further amendment to address scenarios where, apart from farms, a veterinarian may treat an animal away from his or her registered premises. This also addresses, for example, the case of a pet owned by an elderly person or a horse kept as a companion animal. This amendment covers these situations but also makes clear that the practitioner must nonetheless practise from an accredited veterinary premises.

I also took on board advice from the Office of the Attorney General that the relevant provisions should be reformulated to make them clear and more coherent. Furthermore, the amendments also make it clear that the requirements for a certificate of suitability become mandatory only after the Veterinary Council has made a regulation specifying the details relating to different classes of veterinary premises and the application procedure for such premises.

As regards amendment No. 18, during the debate on the Bill in this House concerns were expressed about the requirement that an original of a certificate of suitability must be displayed on the premises. At the close of the debate I undertook to discuss this matter further. Having consulted with the Attorney General I brought forward an amendment to enable the council to issue a certificate extract from the register of certificates of suitability. This extract will fulfil the display requirement.

In summary, the reformulation of sections 105, 106, 108, 112, 123 and 124, together with the deletion of section 109, makes for a more coherent code governing the premises accreditation regime. I understand that the council is happy with these provisions from the point of view of implementation.