Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Deputy. He submitted the question last Wednesday and only received the report yesterday. Fair dues to him. He received the report yesterday and I am supposed to respond to it today. That is the difficulty and it is disappointing. I have tried to be as open as I can with Members of the House, with whom I have engaged, including the Deputy, on various issues and for whom I have tried to provide as much information as I can within the legal confines I face as Minister. The task would have been made easier if we had been given a copy of the report in advance.

On the issue of constitutionality, as raised by the Deputy, it is correct to say an issue arises. It was debated in the House in 2014 when we considered the Competition and Consumer Protection Bill. One cannot deal with the issue of retrospective legislation without great difficulty. On top of this, there is the issue of property rights. I realise the two legal firms involved, one based in the United Kingdom and the other in Northern Ireland, have dismissed this issue, but it is complex. There is a myriad of legal complexities involved. One cannot just dismiss the Constitution.

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