Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Bradford for his question. The judgment of the Supreme Court on 29 March 2007 in the cases of Quinn v. Ireland and the Attorney General and Tector v. Ireland and the Attorney General is confined to the issue of whether the Minister for Agriculture and Food may amend regulations that have statutory effect by further regulations made under section 8 of the Animal Remedies Act 1993 or whether such amendments can be made by statute only.

The effect of the judgment is confined to regulations made under section 8 of the Act and only applies to regulations made to amend previous regulations. The judgment states that because the Act did not contain a provision permitting such an amendment, which is included the European Communities Act 1972 and the European Communities Bill 2006, regulations made under section 8 of the Animal Remedies Act cannot amend other regulations that have statutory effect. The Animal Remedies Act did not have this express power and so these regulations were rendered invalid. The Bill we are debating encompasses all of these issues and links our responsibilities from the genesis in the European Communities Act 1972, through primary legislation and statutory instruments, to the clearly defined European Communities Bill 2006.