Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I might just come in on that. From a personal point of view, I might as well state my own position. I am against the notorious hate speech Bill. However, we constantly get requests in this House that, when legislation goes through, we would have the President refer it to the Supreme Court, but that is the most dangerous thing we could do. Once legislation has gone through the Supreme Court, that is it. There is no further appeal. It is a done deal and it can never again be challenged. My view is that, while I understand the petitioner's need to do everything possible to prevent the Bill getting through, we should revert to him to say it has yet to go through the Seanad, so he should lobby in the Seanad to stop it. We should advise him to do it on a personal, one-to-one basis and not to send in a copy-and-paste letter.

We will not read it. Instead, the petitioner should send in a letter addressed to Gerard Craughwell. I will read it. I have to because it is addressed to me. The petitioner should try to influence the Bill in that way instead of asking the President to send on a Bill. While the President and I do not see eye to eye on a lot of things, he has been smart enough not to refer Bills to the Supreme Court, knowing that at some stage in the future a citizen may need to challenge the Bill. The possibility of a challenge is left open by not referring it to the Supreme Court. We will also be a bit smarter and wiser on it when a Bill has had time to find its level in society. I would write back to the petitioner saying that, from our perspective, this is not an advisable thing to do. While I do not know what the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, would say in this regard, I think it would agree with me. Once it goes through the Supreme Court, it is a done deal.