Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his clarification and explanation regarding the American ambassador. I am aware from responses to parliamentary questions that the ambassador met the Taoiseach several times since. I do not know whether this matter was discussed with the Taoiseach, but I do not wish to go down that rabbit hole. My primary concern has to do with the Minister of State's reference to oversight mechanisms, including the oversight provided by the courts. This is the main problem with the Bill. It does not matter whether I believe the Judiciary is excellent - I do - but we have an independent Judiciary in this State.

It is a Judiciary which many would argue is the organ of Government that has best served the State since its foundation, and to which one can have recourse in the event of one's rights being interfered with or trammelled. This Bill actually fetters the ability of the Judiciary to provide oversight. In a way, it simply interferes with its independence. The Minister will provide information to the court, which the court will take notice of, the appellant will not know what information has been provided to the court, the court may not provide that to the appellant, and yet the process goes on. That is anathema to how the courts have functioned in Ireland up to now. Even in the Special Criminal Court, the operation of which many would question, nothing like this has ever been envisaged. It was discussed, albeit in an entirely different context. The idea of whether the courts would have recourse to or take notice of information that was not provided to an appellant was discussed in the context of a refusal of citizenship on national security grounds. It was found that there was no possibility of that and that it would be a departure for the Irish courts to do that. That is what is proposed in this Bill. For the Minister of State to suggest that there is some kind of independent appeal process which makes it all fine is simply wrong.

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