Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I cannot think of a single instance of how the amendment might create confusion or any two sets of circumstances where one provision could be argued to be in conflict with the other. The Minister of State seems to be suggesting the effect of the wording corresponds to "any and all" and we are saying it applies to all mortgage cases regardless of when they were created. That seems to be the situation the Minister of State is suggesting. The advice we have received, and the view of Free Legal Advice Centres, is that we are uncertain the legislation would be immune from court challenge unless we provide for it to apply retrospectively.

It is worth remembering that a great deal of legislation does not apply retrospectively. It is difficult to make legislation apply retrospectively. The fact that the Bill does not state this clearly, concisely and frankly is a concern for us. We believe it needs to be rectified. I cannot think of a single set of circumstances in which one provision could be argued to be contrary to the other. We will be pressing the amendment. It is important for the provision to apply retrospectively.

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