Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I said virtually everything I wanted to say on 11 March last. The next day, I wrote a letter to the Minister setting out my concerns about the way the Bill is drafted. I put forward some suggestions as to how I thought the Bill could be improved. I thank the Minister for the reply, which she sent on me at the end of last week. I am pleased to say the Minister indicated to me that she has taken on board many of my suggestions and that the Attorney General has given her advice in respect of some of the comments I made. I welcome that.

Having spoken to him, the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, is aware of my concern that if we do not change the Bill from the way it is currently drafted, we will find ourselves in situations in the future where children who have been killed unlawfully may not be named because doing so could possibly identify other child witnesses or child accused.

I will talk more about the Minister's proposed amendments tomorrow when we are dealing with Committee Stage. I thank the Minister and Minister of State for their help in this matter.

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