I remind Senators that a Senator may speak only once on Report Stage, except the proposer of an amendment who may reply to the discussion on the amendment. On Report Stage, each amendment must be seconded.
Diseases of Animals (Amendment) Bill, 2001: Report Stage.
Government amendment No. 1:
In page 10, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following:
"(2)At any time after the making of an order undersection (1), the person in respect of whom the original order is made may apply to the court on notice for an order varying or discharging the original order and the court may vary or discharge the original order if satisfied that there is good reason to do so.”.
Amendment agreed to.
Government amendment No. 2:
In page 10, to delete lines 43 to 51 and in page 11, lines 1 to 4, and to substitute the following:
"10.Where under an order made under the Principal Act, regulations made under section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972, or a regulation of an institution of the European Communities–
(a)an ear-tag is required to be attached to an animal, and it is not attached to the animal or has been tampered with or has been replaced with another ear-tag, or
(b)any other form of animal identification is required to be kept in respect of the animal, and is not so kept or has been forged or tampered with or has been replaced with another form of identification,
it may be inferred, unless the contrary is shown, in any proceedings for a contravention of the order or regulation, in which it is alleged against the accused that he or she–
(i)unlawfully brought the animal into the State from a place outside the State, that the animal was brought unlawfully into the State from a place outside the State,
(ii)unlawfully removed, tampered with or has unlawfully switched from one animal to another the ear-tag, that the ear-tag has been unlawfully removed, tampered with or switched from one animal to the other, as the case may be, or
(iii)forged, unlawfully kept, tampered with or has unlawfully replaced the identification of the animal, that the identification has been unlawfully kept, forged, tampered with or replaced, as the case may be.".
The section has been recast to cover forms of identification other than ear-tags, as suggested by Senator Henry. It also reflects the content of the amendment regarding reference.
Amendment agreed to.
Bill reported with amendment and received for final consideration.
Question proposed: "That the Bill do now pass."
I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Davern, for his open approach and for the work done by his officials throughout this busy day to get this legislation passed. I hope we have done a good job. I certainly hope we will see the Bill in effect shortly.
On behalf of my colleagues, I express my appreciation to the Minister and to the Department's officials and everybody else involved in the Bill. This is important legislation to protect the industry and the livelihood of people and to ensure the food industry produces high quality products. I concur totally with the sentiments expressed by Senator O'Meara. I thank the Minister for his endurance in the House. The goodwill and co-operation was wonderful.
I join in the expression of thanks to the Minister of State, Deputy Davern. It has been a long day for him and I know he is not feeling particularly well. I also thank his officials for their vigilance and attention on all these issues and the people from the Attorney General's office, who have been in the background advising on drafting.
There seems to be a presumption that if we get past the next few days, we will no longer have a problem. It is important that we state that there is still a potential problem. I hope we will have solved the problem within the island but we must ensure that the disease does not enter the island in the coming weeks and months. I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Davern, the Minister, Deputy Walsh, and everybody in the Department well in their efforts to keep the disease out of the country.
I thank everybody here for their co-operation today. I realise that at the end proceedings seemed a little messy while I was getting advice, but it was proper that we should get the right advice. I thank the Senators for bearing with me on that issue.
I want particularly to mention what Senator Dardis said, that no complacency should be allowed at this stage. As I stated earlier, there were 16 new cases of foot and mouth disease in England today. They cannot all have been connected to the first one after this length of time, and that is worrying.
I reiterate that nobody from Ireland should go to Cheltenham in case they bring back this awful disease. When compared to the decision regarding the rugby union, the individuals concerned are acting selfishly.
A new era is dawning today in the way business will be done in the agri-food sector and the Bill is part of that. I put on record my appreciation for the officials of the Department and those who are here from the Attorney General's office. Since the day we were notified, these people have not left their offices from early in the morning until late at night, including all last weekend and the previous weekend. A great tribute is due to them for putting the national interest first because often they are criticised in these Houses.
Question put and agreed to.
When is it proposed to sit again?
At 10.30 a.m. tomorrow morning.