Mr. Oliver Gilvarry:

I will make a couple of points before I pass over to Mr. Ashmore to speak on screening. Any piece of legislation has to be robust. Whatever the intent of the legislation, I think we can all agree that if it is not robust, it will be challenged and fall and we will not get the desired outcome. The Senator’s points in respect of an amendment come back to the question of the criteria for placing a company on the list. As I said, we have the list of criteria that the UN has used. If the Bill is brought forward and the Government brings forward amendments, we would have to see if that list would be okay. We would have to engage with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to consider any such amendments. One must provide the rules of the game.

There are other aspects. There is the issue of whether it impinges on other things. It is not just a question of minor additions or changes to wording. There is the issue of whether it impacts on the free movement of capital. We would have to look at its implications in the context of EU law and there would have to be engagement there.