Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

6 o’clock

The Minister referenced Coco's Law and the outreach subsequent to its introduction. She is right that it was not put into the legislation. She gave a commitment which she honoured in full. It has been extraordinary the number of contacts I have had even since, including invitations to be involved in seminars and online discussions with young people on it. That is really valuable. As I understand it, the difficulty the Minister has with the amendment is that is covers a public consultation and information campaign because she believes that the public consultation is already captured. What harm is it to take a belt-and-braces approach? If it is already captured, it will be made more explicit in order that it is understood that this is what will happen. It would improve the Bill to accept that and have the outreach to which I refer for people. It would allow people the opportunity to understand the implications of legislation like this. As with any new law in the criminal justice area, the Garda Síochána, requires a period between the enactment of the legislation and the Minister's formal order to commence the legislation in order that gardaí can become familiarised with it. Similarly, there could be a public outreach on legislation we pass so that the people are also familiar with it.

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