Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank this House, in particular, for its contribution to this Bill. I hope I have taken on board most of the concerns expressed by Senators. I certainly tried to do that, both here and in the Dáil, and I believe the Bill is better for it. The original draft of this legislation was put in place by the previous Government. It has been amended, changed and modernised, as appropriate, by this Government, but the same people in my Department have been involved in making it happen, namely, Mr. Mark Winkelman, Mr. Dermot Murphy and Mr. John Moloney. They have done an enormous amount of work over a number of years to get this legislation right. The Bill brings our animal health and welfare legislation up to date and clarifies the responsibility animal owners have towards their animals.

The most exciting thing about this Bill will be in the using of it because we have had some appalling cases of animal welfare breaches and of cruelty in Ireland and we need to deal with that. We need to make an example of some people, whether it is in dog fighting, abuse of stray horses or other areas. There are some people who should not have animals and we need to intervene to protect those animals. We will have a lot more power and a lot more legal clarity with the enactment of this legislation, and not before time, in my opinion. I am looking forward to putting the codes of conduct in place and the training programmes that will be required to go with this legislation. I am also looking forward to the conclusion of the other preparatory work needed before we can fully enact and use this legislation.

Certainly when that is done we will be able to enhance Ireland's reputation as a country that takes animal welfare seriously. Most importantly we will be able to protect vulnerable animals which are currently being abused and in some cases mutilated. We will be able to hold people to account and impose appropriate penalties so that we can insist on the kind of respect that I believe should be part of any civilised country in terms of how animals are treated and protected.

I thank Members of all parties for their contributions to this legislation. It has been a good example of how this House, working with the other House and a cross-party system, can contribute in a very constructive way to good legislation.