I move amendment No. 1:
In page 4 to delete lines 26 to 32 inclusive and substitute the following section:—
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Acts and without prejudice to the powers of refusing applications for registration conferred on him by the Acts, the Minister may, in his absolute discretion, refuse an application by a person for registration in respect of any premises on either or both of the following grounds, that is to say:—
(a) that such person or any other person was previously registered in respect of those premises and such registration was cancelled by the Minister under the Acts;
(b) that such person was previously registered in respect of other premises and such registration was cancelled by the Minister under the Acts.
(2) In this section—
the expression "the Acts" means the Agricultural Produce (Cereals) Acts, 1933 to 1935;
the word "registered" means registered in a register kept by the Minister under the Acts and the word "registration" shall be construed accordingly.
Section 9 met with some criticism during the Committee Stage, and I undertook to try to meet the views of Deputies. That section gives the Minister power to refuse registration in any of the registers at his discretion. The original Act set down the reasons that the Minister might give for refusing registration. The principal reason was, if there were sufficient people registered to supply the needs of the district up to that period. This new section was considered by some Deputies to be too sweeping, and it was thought that I might limit the reasons for refusing to the point that where a person who had been already cut off any register the Minister should have power to refuse to allow him to go on the register, or where premises had been put off the register the Minister should have power to refuse registration to such premises. I explained then that very often it was not enough to have power to refuse a person a licence, because a son or wife or brother might come along for a licence for the same premises. That was obviously a device to get a licence back again for the same person. This amendment is provided to meet these objections, and it limits the Minister's power to refuse a licence to the power he already had under the original Act, that there are sufficient on the register to supply the needs of a district or that a person has already been removed from the list or premises removed from the list.