Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Senator is right, in that the IRP Bill was wide, large legislation and had been going around the Houses for a number of years. It made sense for the Minister to remove from that Bill the protection Bill, the general scheme of which has only just been published. The intention is for the latter to undergo the pre-legislative stage before a committee. It is within that process that Members can make their opinions on the EU directive known. The working group will also have opinions in that regard. I am not trying to be evasive, but I am minded of the fact that we established a working group that people were determined to keep independent. It is for a deliberate reason that the Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, and I have not been involved in the group, namely, we did not want a perception of political overtones in or unwarranted political influence over its work. We wanted to ensure that people could make their comments or representations or do their work without involvement from or interference by practising politicians.

I expect that the members of the working group have made the Senator's points. I expect that those issues will be to the forefront of their minds as they compile their final report, which is due a number of weeks after Easter. I also expect that members of the justice committee will make the same recommendations during the pre-legislative stage of the protection Bill.