Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I move amendment No. 9:

In page 8, after line 53, to insert the following:

"(5) Where a person in respect of whom an offence has been committed, or a family member of that person, proposes to give evidence under subsection (3) orally rather than in writing, it shall not be necessary for the court to give any particular direction or warning to that person in respect of his or her evidence.".

This amendment seeks to enshrine a new section in the Bill. That new section would stipulate: "Where a person in respect of whom an offence has been committed, or a family member of that person, proposes to give evidence under subsection (3) orally rather than in writing, it shall not be necessary for the court to give any particular direction or warning to that person in respect of his or her evidence."

It is fair to say that everybody in the House knows the origin of this particular amendment, and that it refers to remarks made in the course of a ruling in the Court of Criminal Appeal on the Wayne O'Donoghue case. I believe those remarks by Ms Justice Macken may have been obiter dictum and I do not particularly want to go into the case. The point is, however, that there generally is not a problem in terms of the written statement and parties are usually on notice. However, where a person goes beyond what was in the written statement, and adds material orally, there can be a difficulty. Members of the House who are familiar with what happened in the Wayne O'Donoghue case will be aware of that.

Having said that, the question arises whether it is necessary for a mandatory warning to be given in such circumstances in terms of the delivery of the statement. On balance, I argue it is not desirable that it should become the mandatory practice. That is not to say I would want what happened in that particular case to occur again. The Minister, in subsection (5) of the same section has inserted a clause that would disbar publication of part or all of a statement added on in the circumstances I have described. I accept that this goes some of the way towards meeting the situation I am seeking to highlight. It is important, however, that we clarify this.

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