Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

Let us be clear. If somebody appeals this decision to the Minister's office, in all likelihood we will have the same result if there is consistency. They will appeal the decision to the District Court. One could have a similar case to that outlined by the Senator, a difficult individual who should not be minding animals abusing a donkey. An authorised officer may go in and issue a notice, outlining the need to change behaviour, and stating the person will be taken to court if the behaviour does not change. In some cases, an authorised officer may confiscate the animal if he thinks the person or persons are not capable of changing their behaviour. There have been cases of people with a mental illness who are not capable of minding animals. One can issue welfare notices, but the behaviour will not change. Authorised officers must be able to act and seize animals in those circumstances. What we are discussing is whether the Minister must put in place a secondary round of assessment that is linked to his office and is accessed free of charge. This would necessitate the Minister sending an official to places such as Caherciveen or up to Donegal to investigate what an authorised officer has been trained to inspect and make a judgment. It would be more practical to be able to discuss with an authorised officer how to deal with a case where people feel they are hard done by and perhaps get a second opinion locally before confirming the welfare notice. Ultimately the likelihood of the Department overturning a decision from an authorised officer is unlikely. A person who feels he has been treated unfairly after making the second appeal will go to court. It is unlikely that a person who is abusing animals will want to go to court. That is the reason that we have so few appeals on the current compliance notices. Farmers are delighted to take the compliance notice and implement it because they want the issue to go away.

A person would want to feel really hard done by to go to court. I do not think an appeal system to the Minister will solve that, but we will create a significant headache and potential lobbying of the Minister on individual welfare incidents on farms or in commercial settings. This would create an unnecessary layer of work, and undermines the work of our authorised officers. Where there is a strong protest or objection from a person who has been the subject of an inspection and welfare notice by an authorised officer, that can be dealt with through the code of conduct for authorised officers. I think an official appeal mechanism that is free of charge will just delay justice.