Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I am obliged to take the advice given to me. That advice was given to me not just by the Office of the Attorney General but also by outside counsel. I told the House that this issue would be tested in the Supreme Court. When the President called a meeting of the Council of State, as the Taoiseach stated this morning, it was his and my view that the sooner there was legal clarity, the better. That is a fact. It was better that it was done by an Article 26 reference than to force an individual, an old person or someone in a long-term place, to take legal action.

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