Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The key to the question is that there is a process in the court and a punishment if the accused is found guilty, as in the witness's cases. Another process outside the judicial system is now overlapping with it. With or without discretion the case was tried and the punishment was handed out. The proposal under head 5 is to put an additional punishment on top of that. That is a constitutional issue. It is also covered by previous Supreme Court cases. There is a political agenda here rather than a legal agenda, and there is a clear breach in the constitutional rights of citizens. It also means that the Department is moving in to the judicial area, which I have never seen any Department do before. If it is allowed it would set a very worrying precedent.