Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister. This is an interesting Bill and it has become more interesting as the debate has continued. I was interested to hear what Senators Ó Murchú and Quinn said. It reminded me of when I did contract work in north Leitrim in the 1970s and I was mowing a field for an old farmer when we came upon a nest of corncrakes. The farmer took off his cap, gathered up all the corncrakes and set them down in the hedge in order that they would be safe. It is a pity a little more of that was not done and we might have preserved the corncrake but, unfortunately, when machines moved forward many of the wild birds were lost.

I am due to visit an area in north Leitrim on Friday morning where a wild grouse project is being promoted, and I know that the Minister has a particular interest in this issue. We are being joined by Teagasc which is preparing a report on it. I look forward to the wild grouse being re-introduced and there are 35 grouse breeding on that particular commonage. That is very good. In my previous role in the IFA, I worked on commonages and many of them were over-grazed. When that happened the birds and habitats were not allowed to develop.

I have strayed a little from the Bill. It is a technical one and it makes only one change to wildlife legislation. It amends section 29 of the Act, as amended by section 4 of the 2010 Act, by removing the end date, 1 August 2012. This ensures that firearms certificates issued for shotguns after 1 August 2009 will now be valid to be used by hunters to hunt wild deer and birds in the appropriate hunting season. It is extremely important that there are not hunted out of season.

I thank the Minister for bringing this Bill before the House. It provides certainty for those firearms certificates owners and owners of shotguns issued after 2009. It is an important amendment, as we heard, as we head into a number of hunting seasons, including those for the hunting of the hare, the duck, the pheasant and the grouse. In excess of 220,000 three-year firearms certificates have been issued since the introduction of the updated firearms legislation in 2009 so it will affect quite a number of people. This amendment will ensure that those licences will now remain valid for the duration of three years. My colleague, Senator Susan O'Keeffe, mentioned W. B. Yeats. I remind her that the Brent geese come to Lissadell from Greenland every winter and they are a protected species. I thank the Minister for his attendance and I look forward to a further debate on wildlife.