Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is one other issue. It is a common reference that hard cases make bad law, but sometimes the lack of law leads to desperate cases. In the annals of our history there are sufficient desperate cases to assure us that we should investigate insofar as we can and that we should legislate to the best of our ability, having received and learned from all of the evidence. There is no way we can prevent people from travelling outside the country for whatever purpose, nor should we do so, for the simple reason that it has already been determined in a constitutional referendum, despite the efforts of some to suggest we could, which was an appalling conclusion to have reached, even in those days.