Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State. I agree with Senator Coffey that we need to know the reason for the change. The letter referred to by the Senator from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, to his Cabinet colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, states:

Given that the primary objective of the regulations is to regulate commercial dog breeding and, in view of the strict standards which apply to members of the Hunting Association of Ireland, it is my intention that groups affiliated to the HAI be granted an exemption from the requirements of the regulations.

It is clear something has changed since the Minister wrote that letter. In a spirit of transparency and openness, we need to know the reason the Minister has done a complete about-turn on this issue. I ask the Minister of State to address these comments.