Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief because, unfortunately, I have approximately 700 pages of a report to read when I go back to the office. It is kind of ironic that I will be going from one justice issue to another one.

We will be supporting this Bill for a number of reasons. In fairness to Deputy Mick Wallace, he has been very honest in his opening contribution and said that there have been changes made in this area, which were not reflected in the Bill. He has also been very honest in saying that the Bill is not perfect and he is very open to amendments. It is for that reason we believe it should go to Committee Stage. Under the new arrangements, a Private Members' Bill which passes Second Stage and goes to Committee Stage must go through a pre-legislative process.

I want to take up the Minister of State's last point. He spent the best part of his speech criticising what was wrong with the Bill. We all recognise that this is an area which needs to be reformed. The Law Reform Commission stated that in its own report in 2011. The Minister of State said that, "It is also the view of the Government, in opposing the Bill, that the various, fundamental, cross-cutting and sweeping measures being proposed would need to be considered coherently as part of an overall reform of our limitation of actions regime." He then went on to acknowledge, as Deputy Wallace did, the Law Reform Commission report of 2011 and its own recommendations. However, he did not say when this area will be looked at. It could have been looked at on Committee Stage, or during the pre-legislative process, if this Bill had been supported on Second Stage. That would have been a very reasonable thing to do. This Bill may or may not be voted down - it will depend on the numbers. The Government is certainly opposing it. If it is voted down on Second Stage, then that is the end of it. The committee will not get an opportunity at the pre-legislative stage to look at the very important points which Deputy Wallace has outlined. He touched on Article 6 and some of the reports he has read internationally and how this can affect not only commercial businesses but also people's personal mental health. It is absolutely scandalous that a vulture fund could have six years to take an action. That is an awful thing for someone to have hanging over his or her head. We need to look at this area and I would have preferred for the Bill to progress. Hopefully, Fianna Fáil will support it. I am not aware yet what its position is. If it does support it, then it will go to Committee Stage and we will have the opportunity to look at it in the pre-legislative process. It is not good enough for the Minister of State to come in and list all the things wrong with the Bill and say he recognises change is needed and that the Law Reform Commission has made a number of recommendations but will not going to do anything about it or set out a timeframe of when the issue is going to be addressed. For that reason, we will support the Bill going to Committee Stage.

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