Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy need not say I am criticising myself. He criticised me time and time again. Criminal legislation is not retrospective. If it had been left until September it could not have been applied to anything that happened over the summer. That is why we brought it in sooner rather than later. I am proud we did. I have no doubt in the coming months and years that the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act will be used extensively by the Garda Síochána.

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