Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are debating over and back. We will not complete Committee Stage tonight and it will need to be resumed on another date. We will then have Report Stage. The three people we are discussing do not even have a date. Can we give them an indication? Once this legislation passes, the current practice of fur farming will become illegal. Once the legislation passes, they will be performing an illegal act and only when the legislation passes will the negotiations for compensation for the employers and the people in question commence. What leverage will they have then? While I do not want to sound off my rocker, if we heard of something like this happening in another country, Senators would be queueing up to discuss it on the Order of Business.

We need to look at how we are presenting this legislation. We need to build in a mechanism for those people to ease out of their business when they know what the compensation is. I would not like to be negotiating for compensation for myself or my staff while performing an illegal act. I would not have a leg to stand on; I would have no leverage. It would not be accepted in other countries and certainly we would not accept it happening in other countries. That is a vital part of our deliberations.

We need to give these people some certainty as to when this will happen. They are looking at this debate wondering if it will go through Committee Stage now or will it be back in again next week. They want to know when they will be out of business. How can they plan and how can they perform the legal act that they are performing at the moment correctly through correct husbandry etc. if they do not know if the hammer will come down next week, in three weeks or in a month? When the hammer comes down, they still have no idea of what the compensation will be. That vital matter also needs to be addressed either on the next day we take Committee Stage or on Report Stage. We cannot just make their activities illegal and then start the negotiations.