Ms Rachel Woods:

It is coming from the fact that the right of access to a lawyer is not set in statute at the moment, but it has been in practice for a number of years. There is an agreed code of practice that the Garda follows and an agreed code of practice by the Bar Council, and both of them have a piece around the very limited, and it is intended to be very limited, exclusion of a solicitor if they are being deliberately obstructive to a process. The Garda has asked that that be continued and that is what we had tried to reflect here. The Department very much welcomes the discussion around this and, as Ms Sheppard said, we are also in discussion during the drafting with the Office of the Attorney General as to whether this goes too far or whether it fully reflects what we are trying to do. There is not an intention for legal representatives to be excluded. Obviously, prohibiting legal representation would be a breach of the international and domestic jurisprudence. Gardaí will be fully aware that if they try to overstep that, any evidence gathered will not be admissible and the judge at trial will be in a position to oversee that and ensure it is effectively followed. We very much welcome the discussion around this and we are very open to revisiting the provision if that is needed.