Mr. John Finucane:

I think the Cathaoirleach was the first to make the suggestion about a further letter. For me, as the conversation has progressed, what is clear, respectfully, from my point of view, is that there needs to be two aspects to that letter. First, it needs to stress the urgency and that a decision needs to be made. We are aware now of the timeframe. Since this committee first wrote to the Attorney General, I believe the Government had formed the position that it wanted to wait and see what the legislation looked like in its final form. Well, we have that now. The Taoiseach has now been on the record for nearly a month as having said that the Government's position will be published within a matter of weeks. We know there is an urgency in this regard. I do not need to rehearse the reasons that our guests have set out this morning. This letter, then, needs to set out the urgency in this regard, and also the position of the committee, which is that the case needs to be taken for all the obvious reasons. I just wish to make this observation.

I have one brief follow-up question about the timetable for the challenge. The oral submissions stage of the judicial review concluded last week, as I understand it. Our next guest may well be able to delve into this in a little bit more detail. I wonder, though, if anybody can outline the expected timeframes that these legal challenges will now face, in the realistic expectation that either one side or the other will appeal this through either of the channels.