Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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The argument to be made for the inclusion of our amendment is the same as that articulated by Deputy Mac Lochlainn. We have been informed on it by some of the deliberations and commentary of the Irish Penal Reform Trust. We did not go quite as far as proposing a period of 48 months. We propose to substitute the period of 12 months with two years to allow for greater flexibility. Deputy Mac Lochlainn alluded to a case study. As I said on Second Stage, the general thrust of the legislation is very much welcomed. I attended Limerick Institute of Technology recently and heard from a number of students who are finding it difficult to get placements by virtue of the fact that they have previous minor convictions on their record. Obtaining Garda clearance and all that goes with it is proving to be an obstacle to them. The period of 12 months is a little restrictive. If the Minister of State is minded to extend the period to two years that would be great, or if he wants to go along with Deputy Mac Lochlainn's proposal to extend the period to 48 months, I would withdraw my amendment on that basis.