I move amendment No. 4:
In page 18, subsection (5), lines 35 and 36, to delete " scientific or educational purposes " and substitute " such scientific, educational or other purposes as shall be specified in the licence ".
This section will enable the Minister, by order, to provide protection from wilful damage or destruction for particular species of wild plants and their habitats either throughout the State or in areas of special interest.
Subsection (5) enables the Minister to grant licences to take protected plants or interfere with the habitat of such plants for scientific or educational purposes.
It has been represented to me that a person might seek to do certain reasonable acts which were neither of a scientific nor educational nature and which could interfere with or alter the habitat of protected flora, though not to any significant extent. I accept the point and am proposing this amendment in order to provide the necessary flexibility to meet reasonable requests.