Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry. It is he who comes to the committee and engages with us, and I am on the committee. That is what I want to say. I want to acknowledge that because it is an important point.

I also want to acknowledge the public representatives who are animal welfare advocates. I particularly want to single out Councillor Tania Doyle from Fingal, Councillor Deirdre Heney, Councillor James Charity, Deputy Holly Cairns, Deputy Gino Kenny and Senator Lynn Boylan, who are very strong advocates across the different party political groups in advocating strongly for animal welfare. They have given this a lot of focus and attention. I took the time to look at the parliamentary questions and the Commencement matters and I see they have a commitment.

The point I am making is I support the concept of having this debate. We need to look at how we can mainstream certain areas. The Minister of State will be familiar with the document, Working together for Animal Welfare: Ireland's Animal Welfare Strategy 2021-2025. In that, one of the key issues is mainstreaming animal welfare across all Teagasc training, which is an area we need to address. They are all commitments from the Government and I accept them. To be clear, we have to be balanced in our approach. I support animal welfare but we are in an economy.

Senator Pauline O'Reilly raised the issue of mink. I am somewhat surprised that this was not done because I had thought it was all rolled out, but the Minister of State is in government and that is an issue for the Government. The Government has a programme. I presume it delivers on the programme and I assume Government Members monitor the programme and look at that. It is a surprise. I will make contact after we meet here with those groups that are engaged with us and with the Minister. I ask the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, to shed some light on what steps she or people within her Department took to pursue it. Is there an issue or a difficulty with implementing Government policy and, ultimately, an Act passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas?