Ms Claragh Mulhern:

From the outset, any new legislation, and certainly any large piece of legislation like this where there is a certain amount of change, will understandably create some uncertainty in terms of what has changed and where there is potential for people to seek further clarity on those issues. That must go without saying in terms of any legislation we bring through the Oireachtas. We have been very conscious of the need to reflect, as Senator Boyhan mentioned earlier, on the issues we have had in the courts in recent years, in particular challenges to the legislation itself and the downstream effects of that. The intention is to reflect on all those issues we are aware of through court decisions and judgments in the Bill we bring forward to the committee to take through the Houses.

In terms of satellite litigation, Part 9 and the judicial review provisions in particular have taken quite a bit of attention. Certainly, that is an area in particular on which we will reflect. We have been listening intently to the submissions that have been made by a range of stakeholders on those provisions and we will be reflecting on those as part of the overall process. We feel the position is very robust. As Mr. Hogan outlined, we have been working hard to make sure it is. The explanatory memorandum would be the opportunity to flesh that out a bit more in further detail.

We cannot avoid the potential of satellite litigation completely, given that people may seek judicial review. In the spirit of the Aarhus Convention, access to justice is a key cornerstone of the system, and correctly so. People have to have the opportunity to take issue with something if they feel there it needs to be resolved. Our intention is to try to limit those opportunities as much as possible through the review of the legislation. We will bring the Bill up to speed and reflect previous judgments, the Aarhus Convention and all other requirements under EU legislation so that we are satisfied that we are limiting potential avenues as much as we can.