Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

A number of contentious issues arose when this Bill was published and I have dealt with them all except one. We have dealt with them in a way that modified them substantially. The issue of the testimony of a member of An Garda Síochána above the rank of chief superintendent arose under section 7 and we made a substantial modification. We have modified mandatory sentencing and are now totally rewriting the legislation on crime prevention orders. The Minister has introduced an entirely new section. It is substantially different from its predecessor and we have seen it for the first time in the last couple of days.

Nobody outside the House will have seen the amendment or will have been given a chance to make any representation or recommendation in respect thereof. It has not been discussed on Second Stage or Committee Stage. We have abandoned crime prevention orders, which were very broad and the essence of which I supported. They were obviously constructed such that the courts could apply any condition but they have now been replaced with two very focused orders, namely, monitoring orders and the protection of persons orders. These are quite different.

Is there provision for an appeals mechanism?

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