Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is a lot in what Ms Ní Chinnéide has suggested. That is no criticism of Senator Ruane. If we are going to introduce legislation, we should ensure that it deals with the reality of the problem. People can get into difficulties at a certain stage in their lives and have a series of convictions which, in years to come, may be remote and irrelevant to what one is seeking to do later on.

I would be supportive of trying to expand the legislation if the Senator can and I would support her in that regard.

From my experience since being elected a TD, I know this is a real problem for people. A person who had been offered a good job in the State came to me recently. It had come to the last hurdle, which was the vetting of the person, and the person had a real fear about a conviction they had got some 15 years earlier for an offence they had to disclose. Unfortunately, it was not a spent conviction but it had to be disclosed and it created agony for that person who clearly was no longer in any way a threat. We need to do something about this.

With respect to the N.M., case, an interesting issue arises in terms of the article 8 rights. On the matter of the right to freedom of expression, does Dr. McIntyre see a conflict with it in that newspapers could argue that if, say, I had a conviction dating back 15 or 20 years ago - I am not saying that I do, but if I did - that they should be able to write about it?