The following amendment stands in my name:—
"New Section. Before Section 3 to insert a new section as follows:—
3.—(1) It shall not be lawful for any person to take any bird for the purpose of sale alive unless he holds a certificate granted under this section authorising him so to do:
Provided that no certificate granted under this section shall—
(a) authorise the taking in any highway or public place, or on any common, of any bird for the purpose of sale alive; or
(b) be deemed to authorise the holder thereof to kill or take any bird in contravention of any of the provisions of this Act.
(2) A certificate authorising the taking of birds for the purpose of sale alive may be granted by the Superintendent of the Gárda Síochána in the District in which the applicant for the certificate resides and any such certificate shall remain in force until the first day of March, 1928 and may be renewed from time to time: any certificate so granted shall be available only in the District in which it is granted, but may be endorsed by the Superintendent of the Gárda Síochána of any other District so as to be available in that District.
(3) An application for a certificate or for the renewal or endorsement of a certificate granted under this section shall not be refused unless the applicant has been convicted of an offence which, in the opinion of the Superintendent of the Gárda Síochána, renders the applicant unfit to hold such certificate.
(4) There shall be payable on grant of a certificate under this section such fee not exceeding five shillings or on the renewal or endorsement of a certificate not exceeding one shilling as the Minister for Justice may prescribe."
I hope this amendment will be inserted in a Bill to be brought forward by the Government, if not by private members in the near future. Anyone that catches a bird for profit should be certified with a nominal fee. Only yesterday a friend of mine in the train saw, at Ballybrophy Station, over a hundred gold-finches in miniature cages going to be shifted across the Channel. There was no regard to the suffering that would be entailed.