Ms Caroline Counihan:

I am no parliamentary counsel, but I think it would be safest to also amend section 26(3)(a) of the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 within this legislation to avoid having two Bills that might contradict each other. To put it in concrete terms, while I have no issue with including all sexual offences in Deputy O'Callaghan's legislation, if section 26(3)(a) of the 1995 Act was left unamended, there would be a contradiction there. If one is amending the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act, perhaps one should also consider making an amendment to the Civil Legal Aid Act. As I said, I am no parliamentary counsel.