Mr. Andrew Munro:

I thank the Deputy. He asked why the Bill is being rushed. I would not say it is being rushed. We are responding primarily to very important judgments, one in the High Court and one in the Supreme Court. The High Court judgment is in relation to the provisions of the International Protection Act around the designation of safe third countries. What the High Court has said should be part of that test, we are happy to add that additional harm test. That is something we were doing in most cases in any event. The element that will be appealed is how the High Court reached that conclusion. It found it to be a European Union obligation under a directive to which we have not opted into and that is an important point of principle. It conflicts with previous judgments of the court. It is a technical question around when is Ireland bound by a directive. We see it as important that Ireland would only be bound by directives that we have opted into under protocol 21. It is a point of principle that we are appealing whereas the substance of doing that extra test, that is, to see whether this type of harm exists in a country before we return people to it, is something we have no issue with. It is an important technical point around preserving the point that Ireland cannot opt into measures under protocol 21, part 3 of the TFU, without the approval of the Dáil and the Seanad. That is an important point. It is important that we restore our ability to designate safe third countries.

This is also because of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the Delaney case. In the Delaney case, the Supreme Court found that the personal injury guidelines established by the Judicial Council - the ones in place for the past couple of years - are valid. However, it struck down the manner in which they are determined. That is part of section 7 of the Act. It is important, in particular in relation to insurance costs and litigation in this area, that we have certainty around those personal injury guidelines. It is an important procedural thing that the Supreme Court has found, that is, that essentially there should be Oireachtas endorsement. I am short-cutting a very complex judgment in putting it that way, but that is the proposal. When the draft guidelines are produced by the personal injuries guidelines committee of the Judicial Council, they will come to the Houses for approval before they are finally settled. It is not changing the substance of what we are doing there, in trying to provide some certainty around personal injury guidelines and the level of awards which impact on the cost of insurance and so forth. It is just about improving the manner in which they are set and adding more democratic control in relation to them. It is important there is certainty there because it will affect a lot of ongoing litigation and it could have an affect on insurance costs. It is important that the Government responded promptly to that.

My apologies to the Deputy but when I spoke first I forgot to mention the provisions in respect of the retirement age and the pension provisions for members An Garda Síochána, the Prison Service, the Defence Forces and the fire service. Those will be in the published Bill. Those provisions are going in there and that is something that has been-----