Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

We are nearly there already. I agree with the spirit of the Deputy's amendment, which is that it would be very unproductive to allow for a lengthy period of detention for questioning in a place where there are no video recording facilities. I do not think the Judiciary would approve of such an arrangement, unless there was some extraordinary explanation that I cannot quite think of at this point.

I would like to say, in response to Deputy Ó Snodaigh's amendment, that it is a little strange that under the existing law, if one uses a firearm such as a shotgun to murder somebody one can be detained for 72 hours under the Offences Against the State Acts, whereas if one uses a baseball bat——

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