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

Members of the Irish Parliament are in a different position from members of the United Kingdom Parliament because there is a written Constitution in this country and we as politicians cannot enact any law which is inconsistent with our written Constitution. We have that supervisory shroud above us to prevent us going beyond what is permitted by the Constitution. However, when one looks at the legal framework in place in our response to the pandemic, there seems to be four levels in place here. First, there is the Constitution, which guarantees personal freedoms and fundamental rights. Then, as Lord Sumption indicated, there is the statute, namely, the Health Act 1947, which was amended this year and a new section 31A inserted. It gives the Minister for Health power to make regulations, and there have been a series of regulations that have been made by the Minister for Health over the past four months or so. Those regulations change quite frequently. Beyond the Constitution, the Act and the regulations, the Government also issues guidelines. These have been quite controversial recently when individuals got into difficulty for breaching the guidelines. We seem to have three active levels of State regulation, namely, the Act, the regulations and the guidelines. What would Lord Sumption say in respect of an ordinary citizen who is trying to find out what he or she can and cannot do and whether we need to be much more specific in telling them what can and cannot be done under our legal system?