Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We discussed the potential impact of this Bill and the Minister of State outlined its rationale in detail. I do not wish to characterise the Minister of State incorrectly but if I understood him correctly, he said that if somebody was prosecuted, notwithstanding the fact that the act was humanitarian assistance, and if that person was found guilty, the Minister of State has no doubt this would be revisited very quickly by this House. How will it be revisited if nobody knows about it? If there is no reporting mechanism, how is anybody to know about it?

Of course, in the courts justice is done in public. I am sure the Minister of State has been in many District Courts up and down the country, as have other people in the Chamber for a variety of reasons. There is not a court reporter in every court and although I have every respect for the media, are we are to rely on them to do our job? We must have a reporting mechanism because how else might we revisit the matter? How do we revisit something because of a certain outcome if nobody knows about the outcome?

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