Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I will address that point. I take what Deputy Ward is saying on board. We have the DSS to support people, engage with those who are becoming intervenors and provide them with guidance and reassurance about how they can do their job well. However, the UNCRPD also requires safeguards in respect of those who have the role of supporting people who have some restriction on their capacity. Notwithstanding the Deputy's point about there already being rules, some of the positions that we are creating are positions of significant trust and it is important that the law signifies that abuse of that trust is a major issue. The DSS and this Bill can only work with the engagement of intervenors and with people being comfortable with that, and I believe that the DSS will be able to provide that support. I take on board the Deputy's point, but we all know of instances where people have taken advantage of others and, therefore, we are not discussing situations that are outside the realm of possibility. It is important that the legislation set out a clear criminal prohibition in that respect.

On the point made by Deputy Sherlock on bolting the UNCRPD into this legislation, my concern is that if we want to make every provision of the UNCRPD directly applicable in our courts, there is a mechanism set out in the Constitution in respect of how to do that. There are two steps: we sign up to an international law and then we incorporate it by a full Act of the Oireachtas. Respectfully, the Deputy may be taking a shortcut in that regard. I can see what he is seeking to do but the significance of giving every provision of the convention direct application in our courts is big. That is why it took us a long time to make that call in terms of the European Convention on Human Rights. We did it. A step of that magnitude requires the parliamentary scrutiny that such a step would bring. Obviously, the courts can, do and will make reference to the provisions of the convention when they are dealing with issues in this area. We are already seeing the influence of the convention in terms of the courts' jurisprudence in certain cases relating to deprivation of liberty. That is a positive thing. It is probably what the Deputy is seeking to achieve.