Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We keep raising the issue of the courts, the expense that would entail in bringing persons through that process and the time it would take if somebody was sought and brought through in this fashion. I asked the Minister of State previously about providing for some independent way of dealing with these issues so as not to have to refer to the courts all the time. It would be good if he looked at that idea. He keeps mentioning the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill 2012 which is not yet in place. We are talking about something we are doing now and need clarity, not about something that will happen in the future. We will have no difficulty with addressing it when that legislation is brought forward, but it is what happens in the here and now that matters.

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