Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I am happy to explain our thinking on this. These amendments propose to insert new Short Titles with more sensitive language for certain Acts listed in Schedule 1, the Acts to be retained. As I said on Committee Stage, I agree with the sentiments expressed in the amendments that we must work towards the use of more sensitive language in dealing with all issues, in particular with regard to mental health. It is my intention that the issue of appropriate language will be dealt with when the legislation in question with these amendments is processed as part of the repeal and re-enactment programme.

There are a number of technical reasons these amendments cannot be made at this stage. The Acts in question are known by their existing Short Titles and as such would be referred to in other legislation or legal documents by reference to this current Short Title. Any major change to an existing Short Title, other than adding a year or to correct an error, would have the potential to cause confusion and legal difficulty. Furthermore, Schedule 1 has been drafted in such a way as to provide that every Act has an entry in either column 3 or column 4, but not in both.

In other words, we are, so far as is possible, providing just one Short Title for each Act. The Deputy's amendments, however, would leave the existing Short Title in place in column 3. That would create an anomaly with the rest of the Schedule. Indeed, it would also mean that the objective of the amendment would fail to be achieved in that the old Title would remain fully in force. I hope this explains the position. I do not propose to accept the amendments on the grounds that they are not workable as drafted. In addition, the issue raised by them is covered by the Government's ongoing programme of statute law revision. For these reasons, I ask the Deputy to withdraw the amendments.

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