Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 6, subsection (2), line 22, after "failure" to insert "or refusal".

These amendments deal with repeals of legislation in section 3 of the Bill. This section repeals certain parts of enactments in Schedule 1 which are section 7 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996, and section 5 of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998. I am advised these amendments will lend clarity. The Minister's amendment wants those provisions to have force in so far as they relate to the failure to mention facts at the time before this repeal came into operation. The sentence is not comprehensive. Failure or refusal, as opposed to passive failure, should also be covered. The active refusal as well as passive failure to mention should be captured by the provision. It is a simple technical redrafting to expand the saving clause that the Minister is proposing to insert when he is repealing those sections.

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