I move amendment No. 1:
In page 5, to delete lines 12 and 13 and substitute the following:
"(2) On—
(a) a sale by competitive tender, or
(b) a sale by auction of goods of a type defined by the Minister by order,
the buyer is not in any circumstances to be regarded as dealing as consumer.".
During the Committee Stage debate reference was made by Deputy Cosgrave and Deputy Enright to the potential difficulties for the bloodstock industry arising from the Bill and I received many submissions on this question in the last 12 months, particularly from the Irish Bloodstock Breeders Federation who were concerned that the Bill would necessitate fundamental changes in the custom which had grown up in relation to sales of bloodstock, particularly as regards the exclusion of liability in respect of imperceptible defects at time of sale.
The main concern was that since auction sales were not excluded by definition from the Bill the conferring of the wide range of implied rights contained in the Bill on consumers at bloodstock auctions would create a situation in which foreign or Irish sellers would be reluctant to use Irish auction sales at all, since the conditions imposed on sellers of bloodstock were not as onerous in other countries.
The crucial issue was, of course, whether buyers at bloodstock auctions would be regarded as consumers as defined in section 3. I felt they could not be so regarded, that the vast majority of bloodstock auction buyers would be acting in the course of a business, thereby enabling the sellers in such cases to exclude their liability for defects and so on in the animal so far as it was fair and reasonable for them to do so. However, following a further meeting with the Bloodstock Breeders Federation I am satisfied that there is at least a doubt as to whether buyers at bloodstock auctions could be regarded as consumers or business buyers. In these circumstances I propose, as the amendment provides, that the Minister be given an enabling power to exempt such auctions by order after the Bill's enactment. This will enable us to see whether the difficulties posed by the federation will exist after the Bill is enacted. If the new range of provisions in the Bill do show signs of creating these difficulties at that stage, the Minister will have power to exempt such auction sales specifically. The federation have indicated that the course of action proposed would be acceptable to them.