Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I know of no Government that has legislation in the drawer ready to be implemented because a matter is before the High Court or Supreme Court. We won the case in the High Court and it was not anticipated that it would be lost in the Supreme Court. Even if that had been anticipated, we would have had to wait to see the Supreme Court ruling to draft the appropriate legislation, which must be constitutional. It would not make sense, given the difficulties that have arisen, to bring in a faulty Bill. The Government will take the best advice available from the Office of the Attorney General and other counsel on the legislation and we hope it will be ready later this week.

No decision has been made on the consent issue or the detail of the legislation. Yesterday was a briefing by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Attorney General. The legislation will follow later this week.

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