Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I thank the Minister for getting his officials to supply us with the briefing document on Sharia finance. The document is useful in so far as it goes but the introduction of Sharia law into Ireland would be rather like if we were to reintroduce the Brehon law code to Ireland. It is another legal code with a social and legal framework of understanding and once Sharia law is established, we must be guided broadly by the inspiration, structures and strictures of what Sharia law means.

In introducing such a concept into Irish law, I accept that the Minister essentially wants to facilitate people in the financial services centre who want to compete on a worldwide basis for global mobile finance which relates to financial entities, sovereign wealth funds and so on and which may be grounded in Sharia law. That is fine, but if we are introducing such concepts into Irish law they are deserving of debate and of a wider explanation to the public.

As I said on Second and Committee Stages, I have the honour, along with the Minister, of representing a significant number of people living in Dublin West, whether from the Bosnian community or from other communities, who are Muslim. Many of them would like to be able to buy a house using Sharia law finance without the principle of interest or usury being involved but this is about financial transactions in the International Financial Services Centre. In introducing a measure like this into Irish law, it is foolish not to arrange to have some kind of public debate on the different elements of the law. The International Financial Services Centre is not helped by an image that it exists in a vacuum which is separate from other Irish law, including Irish tax law. We want a financial services centre that is productive, attractive and so on but I do not understand the reason the Minister for Finance and the Department of Finance are consistently afraid of debating in detail the implications of changes in law, including the introduction of something like Sharia law into Irish tax law.

As somebody who has some experience of Sharia law, I am aware that Sharia law has many implications, as the Minister may be aware, in particular for women. I do not know whether the Minister's officials have given consideration to that but there are also extremely important dispute resolution mechanisms when issues, difficulties and disagreements arise in regard to Sharia law contracts. All I am saying to the Minister is that consideration should be given to that aspect.

The Minister's response is predictable, which is that while the tax law in the Finance Bill provides for Sharia law, a dispute resolution mechanism is not required because dispute resolution will be subject to the Irish courts. That is fine but in the long term it is likely to be unrealistic. The Minister may hold to his view that the ordinary Irish courts, under the structures and traditions of Irish civil law, are sufficient. I suggest to the Minister that they may not be and his advisers and officials should have given consideration to that.

We have law faculties in most universities and institutes of technology. We have a fair number of law lecturers who are Muslims from different parts of the world. I recommend to the Minister that his Department should host a seminar. If he wants to have a development of understanding about this concept being introduced in Irish law, the way to do that is to debate it in public and not introduce it as some arrangement which is exclusively for people in the International Financial Services Centre. That is to make it almost a novelty and a type of hidden element in Irish law. That is not sensible. We would be much better debating the pros and cons of it. Like all legal systems, it has advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, for people who are of the Muslim faith, because its approach to law is underpinned in the Koran, it is particularly attractive and important to them but if it is being brought into Irish law, its pros and cons should be identified, including a dispute resolution mechanism.

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