Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

I support Deputy Costello on that issue. When we deal with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, we deal with Ministers who have different opinions and come from different political backgrounds. That said the Bill will still stand which means there will be different interpretations of how justice is administered in different jurisdictions around the world. It was suggested that the Human Rights Commission should advise the Minister and that he, in turn, should take note of what the Human Rights Commission says about whether a country should be a designated one. If the legislation is not transparent, it will undermine the basis for the Bill, which otherwise is welcome and generally acceptable. It is important that a lay person should clearly understand that a mechanism is available to ensure nobody is deprived of his or her human rights at the whim of the Minister of the day.

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