Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It strikes me that for the avoidance of doubt there should be an explicit clause.

On the powers of the Garda, I agree with the points made about the importance of us engaging with the Garda because that is the critical thing. There is no point in having legislation on the books unless it is clearly enforceable from a practical perspective. One of the concerns to arise is that under the proposed legislation, in order for an offence to be committed under head 4(7), a person must have been previously issued with a warning pursuant to head 4(5). It is very hard to get one's head around how that would work in practical terms so please talk us through that. What about record keeping? Are you saying that in order for Garda to prosecute somebody then he or she must have had a previous warning? How is it recorded that a person would have had a previous warning so that he or she could then be prosecuted?