I absolutely agree with the Deputy. The welfare of animals must be paramount, and the comfort and welfare of those animals must be assured on any journeys undertaken. The conditions of travel, etc., must be appropriate for the animals. It is an important market outlet. In the past, nearly all our animals were exported live without much processing. It is now a small part of our overall livestock sector, but an important part nonetheless. It offers an important outlet in terms of balancing the market and making sure …

I respect the Deputy’s position; I have a different view. However, we all agree on the imperative of animal welfare, maintaining their well-being and making sure they are in comfortable circumstances at all times and especially when they are travelling. I believe the rules and regulations we have in place are robust and strong. We are providing additional oversight through the training of additional veterinarians. It is an important outlet for the market as well. The key point is that the rules and conditions under…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. As part of the programme for Government, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has committed to conducting a review of the EIA agriculture regulations. I am happy to announce that this review process formally launches today, with the opening of a six-week consultation period seeking views from all stakeholders to inform the review process. The review will involve a full review of the EIA agriculture regulations in their entirety. These EIA regulations apply t…

I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 14: In paragraph (d), to delete “the regulator shall be authorised to”.

I move amendment No. 2 to amendment No. 14: In paragraph (d), to delete “agri-food” and substitute “agricultural and food”.

I move amendment No. 3 to amendment No. 14: In paragraph (d), to delete “(vii) salary, and” and substitute “(vii) salary.”.

I move amendment No. 4 to amendment No. 14: To delete paragraph (e) and substitute the following: “(4) Data referenced under paragraph (d) of subsection (3) may be in paper or electronic form, held by a business involved in the agriculture and food supply chain, or otherwise on their behalf.”.

I move amendment No. 16: In page 11, after line 33, to insert the following: “(7) Where the regulator believes that data relating to a business obtained under paragraph (d) of subsection (3) is or is likely to be of a commercially sensitive nature and is not in the public domain, the regulator shall not publish the data without the consent of the business (notwithstanding section 51 ).”.

I thank Deputies McNamara and Healy-Rae for their contributions, logic and rationale in the context of the amendment. I listened to them and we also gave this a lot of thought before the debate. I understand what Deputy McNamara's amendment seeks to achieve, but it concerns something the Bill, as it stands, will allow, as he pointed out, to be done through regulation. It is important the Minister has the capacity to empower the regulator to be able to access information as appropriate, but I believe, as I have made…

As I said, I take the points the Deputies made in regard to the need for the regulator to have capacity to require the information, but I am satisfied the powers provided in the legislation, as it stands, to be able to do that by regulation will be strong enough and, importantly, flexible enough to ensure they can work efficiently and that the regulator can be empowered to get the information it needs. Moreover, section 80(2)(g) clearly provides the Minister with the power to make regulations and provide, through r…

I thank Deputies Kerrane, Michael Healy-Rae, Carthy and Danny Healy-Rae for their contributions. We had a significant discussion on this matter on Committee Stage as well. I outlined the position in relation to it then. I worked to be collaborative to make sure that the office we bring in here serves farmers and primary producers well, is effective and has the powers necessary to do its work. I acknowledge the role that all Oireachtas Members have played in that regard during pre-legislative scrutiny and right thro…

I thank Deputies Kerrane, Carthy, Michael Healy-Rae and Danny Healy-Rae. My objective in this legislation is to introduce something that will make a real difference on the ground, will bring transparency and will be implementable and effective. I explained earlier about the below-cost selling and the example of beef and how that approach would not benefit farmers or consumers. That had been our experience with the groceries order, which was discontinued because it was not working and was not effective. Should he ha…

-----to do what the Deputies are trying to claim it will achieve.

If the Deputy feels there are issues and challenges there, the way to do that is to amend the legislation when the architecture is in place, not to introduce one line in another Bill.

To touch on that point, and also on the question raised by Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, I am bringing in this legislation to ensure there is fairness, oversight and transparency in the food supply chain, and to be able to give that confidence to farmers, as well as the practical effect that there is fairness in the food supply chain. That is what this food regulator legislation and setting up this office is about.

I move amendment No. 20: In page 16, line 3, after “buyers” to insert “, consumers”. This is a straightforward amendment to insert the word "consumers". We discussed it on Committee Stage. Sinn Féin tabled an amendment that I think was ruled out of order. I agreed to look at it to see whether I would bring it back, which I have now done.

I move amendment No. 21: In page 16, lines 13 to 17, to delete all words from and including “(1) The” in line 13 down to and including line 17 and substitute the following: “(1) The regulator shall consist of— (a) a member (in this Act referred to as the “chairperson”) designated by the Minister to chair the regulator, and (b) seven ordinary members, of whom at least three shall be persons appearing to the Minister to be primary producers.” We had a good discussion about this on earlier Stages of the Bill. The obje…

This is an amendment we discussed on Committee Stage and which I indicated I was not in favour of. As with many other organisations, their representatives often attend Oireachtas committees but the chairperson would do so, not the CEO before their appointment. It is the board of the food regulator that has responsibility for the strategic direction of the office, not the CEO, so it would not be appropriate for the CEO, in advance of his or her appointment as part of their recruitment process, for example, to attend…

I move amendment No. 24: In page 53, line 21, after “the” to insert “agricultural and”. This is an editorial amendment to replace "food" with "agricultural and food".

I move amendment No. 25: In page 53, line 21, after “chain” to insert the following: “(which may, in particular, include provision allowing the regulator to compel the provision of information referred to in section 12(3)(d) )”.