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

That is a difficult area and it an issue we probably do not have to deal with when we are dealing with Senator Ruane's legislation. I would have thought the way to deal with the legislation, as the Senator has done, is to try to emphasise in it that relevance and remoteness are the important aspects. For example, is the conviction relevant to something the person is doing and is it remote in terms of the years that have passed? It is clearly the case that if somebody gets a conviction they serve their sentence and the sentence denies them of liberty and has other impacts upon them but it should not affect them after they have served their sentence. They are only the comments and questions I have.