It is proposed in this Bill to re-state in modern language the duty of local authorities in respect to the provision and maintenance of pounds. I think it will be conceded that the existing law as set out in the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1851, is antiquated and unsuitable to present conditions. As an example, the local authority such as the county council or such body has no powers as the law stands under that Act of 1851 to vote more than £10 for the provision of a pound. The result has been that in some counties there are no pounds. In other counties there are places that may be called pounds but which are really unsuitable plots of ground imperfectly fenced, undrained and badly sheltered, with the result that the stock that is impounded in them suffers hardship and, consequently, deteriorates in value. In this Bill power is being taken for the local authorities or, in default of the local authorities, the Minister concerned, to provide at greater cost suitable pounds. These conditions came to the notice of the then Government some seven years ago. The Bill drafted then was not introduced until recently. It is now before the Seanad. I take it that it was through pressure of other legislation that the Bill was not introduced at the time. I do not know, except on the ground of pressure, any reason why it was not then introduced because the conditions existing were somewhat akin to the conditions existing to-day, except that the conditions may be more accentuated to-day.
In the other House it was suggested that the purpose of this Bill was very different from what I have outlined; that it has something to do with the seizures in relation to land annuities, and so on. That is not so and I want to make that perfectly clear now. Under the existing law, the Enforcement of Courts Orders Act, 1926, the sheriff has absolute power to impound and sell all seized stock anywhere he likes, whether there is a pound or not. That is provided in the Act of 1926. From that point of view there is no necessity to introduce this Bill. The position is this: Every user of the country roads knows that there are a good many straying animals on the roads and the Gárda find it difficult to get the owners. They have no power to place those cattle anywhere except in the local pounds. The result is that in some cases they have to drive these animals a considerable distance to one of these local pounds. In some counties, as I have stated, there are no pounds. Senators can appreciate the difficulties that obtain in such places. Modern traffic, as we know it nowadays, does require the roads to be regulated in certain ways and if cattle are allowed to stray and the Gárda are unable to find their owners, there is the difficulty of exercising that control over traffic. That is the purpose of this Bill and it has no other purpose but this desirable purpose. To try to suggest that it has anything to do with seizures owing to the non-payment of annuities is absurd. The law as it stands is adequate for that purpose.