Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

An important element in drafting the Bill has been to reduce bureaucracy. One development in line with this aim is the introduction of an on-the-spot penalty for minor offences and has advantages for the individual and the State. It avoids the time and costs of court proceedings. There is recourse to the courts for individuals who do not wish to pay an on-the-spot penalty and to contest an offence.

I now turn to the provisions of the Bill. Part I comprises standard form provisions relating to expenses, costs and the laying of documents. It also sets out the purpose and definitions in the Bill and the provision for commencement which is standard practice. The part largely comprises standard form provisions relating to expenses, costs and laying of documents. It also sets out the purpose and definitions within the Bill and the provision for commencement, which is standard practice.

Part 2 deals with the prevention and control of animal diseases and contains some key biosecurity measures. Section 8 prohibits the straying of farm animals and requires that fences and farm buildings be kept secure. The mingling of animals presents a serious risk of disease spread. In any case, most farmers would wish their animals to be protected from wandering onto roads or into other fields and the requirements of this provision are not greater than what the vast majority would consider good practice. Section 9 provides for disease eradication areas. The provisions of section 10 outlaw deliberate interference with a test or giving a false result to a disease test that takes place on a farm.

Part 3, covering animal welfare, provides for general provisions that cover all animals and confers a greater level of protection to animals which are owned or under the control of people. An individual is not allowed to harm any animal. Furthermore, any animal that an individual owns or is in control of must be provided with adequate food, water and shelter and must have its general welfare provided for. Cruelty is expressly forbidden in section 12. This includes any unnecessary suffering whether caused by direct physical abuse, recklessness or negligence. For the sake of clarity, this section is noted as not applying to activity occurring during the normal course of hunting, fishing and coursing. However, the cruelty provisions may apply if an animal is hunted after being released, when exhausted, mutilated or injured, or, in the case of a hare, if it is coursed without having a reasonable chance of escape.

Section 13 provides that keepers must provide protected animals with adequate quantities of suitable food. Obviously, it would be impossible to provide detailed and precise measures of food and other requirements for all animals and it would not be desirable to lay down such detail in primary legislation. Therefore, greater detail can be laid down either via codes of practice or in secondary legislation, which are dealt with in Parts 4 and 7, respectively.

Section 16 bans operations resulting in the mutilation of animals, for example, castration, disbudding, tail docking and so on, except where there is a good reason to allow these. In the latter case, I will have power to make regulations which will allow such procedures. My intention is not to interfere with commercial farming. In the farming context these practices are generally done to the animals concerned for health and safety reasons and, when done properly, they occur at a very young age before tissues become hardened and before the operation would cause a significant degree of pain. Where these conditions are met I do not intend to change current farming practice. There was a recent piece of legislation in regard to veterinary practice that clarified who was responsible for what, which is very useful.

This part also bans the sale of animals to minors and requires that animals be inspected by their keepers at regular intervals to ensure their well-being. It requires the use of anaesthetics when an animal is operated on, requires that animals be protected from poison and gives emergency powers for authorised officers and veterinarians who encounter animals in distress or suffering injuries that would require their immediate destruction on humane grounds. This section also provides for emergency killing of an animal by an owner or, on his or her behalf, by for example, knackery personnel.

Part 4 deals with codes of practice. Although common internationally, including at ED level, codes of practice on a legislative basis are relatively new in Ireland. They are primarily to educate and assist the person involved in the various activities relating to keeping animals. A breach of a code of practice is not of itself an offence but a relevant code may be considered by a judge as a form of best practice and may indicate in more detail where an offence has occurred. In other words, when there is a code of practice in place it will be seen as the acceptable benchmark in the event of a court case or court hearing although not to abide by such code of conduct will not be an offence in itself

Part 5 concerns animal health levies and is based on the Bovine Diseases Levies Acts 1979 and 1996. There is provision to allow the charging of animal health levies on a wider range of species and diseases than is currently the case, where levies are only paid in respect of cattle and milk and are intended for the control of TB and brucellosis.

Part 6 deals with the destruction and disposal of animals. The part deals with the slaughter of animals for disease control purposes and also with consequent compensation, with the overall aim of making the compensation provisions more explicit. There is an independent valuation and arbitration system to ensure that where this is done owners are treated fairly.

Part 7 lists the various activities in respect of which secondary legislation may be introduced. Key among these are measures to prevent the risk of spread of disease, the control or eradication of disease, matters relating to animal welfare, animal transport and identification, and to give effect to the acts and institutions of the EU. The extensive list of detailed issues for which regulations can be made is set out in Schedule 3 to the Bill.

Part 8, on enforcement, provides the necessary powers for authorised officers and for a system of notices which I discussed in some detail earlier. Section 42 provides for authorised officers to serve welfare notices upon animal keepers. These notices can require the keeper to undertake a variety of actions for the purposes of protecting animal health and-or safeguarding welfare. These notices are circumscribed by the right to appeal in section 43. In other words, instead of an authorised officer having to wait for cruelty to occur in order to act and take a resulting prosecution, if there is suspicion that cruelty is taking place or if such has been reported, an authorised officer can serve a notice on the person. In sporting terms that is like offering him or her a yellow card, telling the person he or she needs to change a practice because if, when the officer calls again, there has been no change, prosecution will be considered. It is a sensible practical way of giving people a warning. In many cases, people do not behave deliberately to cause cruelty but may need to improve their practices. This part also contains provisions in regard to search warrants, obstruction and false statements and requires that in some instances animal keepers may be required to give assistance or provide information.

Part 9 refers to the involvement of local authoritiesPart 10 concerns proceedings and sanctions. I do not believe I need to go into the detail of all of these.

Part 11 refers to animal tracing systems. This is really important in terms of quality control, safety and disease control and, in particular, for the reputation of our food industry.

Part 12 deals with animal marts and largely concerns the licensing of same. Again, this is based on the existing Livestock Marts Act 1967.

Part 13 contains miscellaneous matters such as forgery, payment of fees, service agreements with other agencies, and so on..

Part 14 is an amendment to the Animal Remedies Act 1993, about which I need not go into much detail. That is more or less everything, in respect of content.

This legislation is good news for anybody who cares about animals or is involved in making a livelihood from raising animals, whether for food, sport or pleasure. It is good for any person who has a pet at home and wishes to ensure that companion animals, if one wants to use that term, are treated with the level of respect they deserve and receive the protection of law. We have modernised and consolidated all legislation that deals with animals in Ireland in a way that is easy to understand. We can improve the legislation, which is why we must go through this process. If people have concerns, ideas and amendments, we will be open to taking them on board. This is not about party politics or getting something passed for the Government. We are trying to get animal welfare legislation that will stand the test of time.

I do not want us to get distracted by individual campaigns on certain animal welfare concerns. I must strike a balance. I cannot give certain welfare organisations everything they want, just as I cannot give commercial representative organisations everything they want. This is about a balance to pass practical, sensible legislation that can be implemented to treat animals in a way appropriate to modern Ireland. We got the balance right in the drafting to date and I look forward to the comments and amendments of Senators. We will try to improve the legislation if possible. If I can, I will accept amendments and if I cannot, I will explain why. In that spirit, we can improve the legislation.