Dr. Tom Hickey:

The Deputy raises an interesting question. Former Chief Justice Denham was a thoughtful, legitimacy-conscious judge. She was disciplined and very much of the view that certain matters were her job and her function and that was all. She would have thought about how she phrased, "Nothing in this judgment should be taken as necessarily implying ...". I agree there is a little message in there to the Oireachtas. One sees that from judges regularly but they do not want to hit the Legislature across the head and say it must legislate. As I said, the Oireachtas has legislated on this matter and she respects that. She is just saying, "Nothing in this judgment", to clarify means the Oireachtas cannot revise that. She would have thought about it carefully and she is leaving the door open.