This is a Bill which has come down from the Seanad. It is not in any way a political or party measure and possibly the House will agree to the Second Reading of it. It may be that the House might consider it advisable to amend the Bill in Committee. I suggest to the House that it would be well to have the Second Reading carried. The provisions of the Bill are roughly these:—A close season is established for all wild birds and that season is from the 1st March to the 1st August. Any person who kills a wild bird during that period is subject to certain penalties set out in the statute, but if the County Council thinks there is reason to the contrary it is open to them to make application to the Minister for Justice who can make a special order dealing with each county. These penalties do not apply to the owners of land, who can shoot all classes of birds on their own land or authorise other persons to shoot all classes of birds except a number of birds the names of which are set out in the first schedule. Possibly some of these birds in the first schedule should not be protected. However, that is a question which the House could consider on the Committee Stage. In addition to that there is prohibition in regard to the export of a rather limited number of birds. The names of the birds the export of which from this country is prohibited are set out in the second schedule. They are principally birds of the song-bird type and they include other birds such as the peregrine falcon and kingfisher. Under the statute persons are prohibited from taking wild birds in a certain fashion. For instance, no one may:
(a) use as a scarecrow any live bird which is tethered, or
(b) use as a decoy any live bird which is tethered or is secured by means of braces or other similar appliances or which is blind, maimed or injured, or
(c) use bird-lime or any substance of a like nature for the purpose of taking or capturing alive or attempting to take or capture alive any wild bird, or
(d) take or attempt to take any wild bird by means of a hook or other similar instrument.
That is dealt with in Section 4, and any person doing those things shall be guilty of an offence. Under Section 5 it is made illegal to set what is known as a pole-trap; that is, a trap on the top of a stick or a mound or things of that nature which used at one time to be the ordinary method of trapping hawks. There are certain provisions as to the size of the cage in which the bird shall be carried; and, too, the eggs of wild birds cannot be destroyed. These are roughly the general principles underlying the Bill.