Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. Deputy Shortall's ask about the specific part of the Bill will be included in the broader review. Then it is just a question of 12 months or 18 months. There is no mathematically correct answer to any of this. To respond to Deputy Bacik's point, this will be a much simpler review. I anticipate there will be very few incidents to review because of the impact of the Act. Therefore, the advice I have is to let it run longer.

I want to point out that the wording we have is that it will be done after, not later than, 18 months. This does not preclude doing it after 12 months or six months. Whoever is Minister for Health will be free to initiate the review earlier than 18 months. What this states is that they can wait no longer than 18 months. I have taken the wording from the 2018 Act because it worked. It did exactly what it was meant to do and, therefore, I am using the exact same mechanism here.

I echo Deputy Cullinane's note. I would hate people watching this debate to think that somehow they could inadvertently be arrested or commit an offence on the basis of the Bill. This cannot happen. In fact, the written warning from An Garda Síochána is there for precisely this reason. If anybody protesting in good faith finds themselves in a safe access zone and does not know it, or is not aware of the provisions of the Bill and that what they are doing is prohibited, the Garda will provide a warning. No offence will have been committed at that stage. A warning does not constitute an offence. It is only if, having been clearly warned by An Garda Síochána with a written warning, that people continue with what they have been informed is prohibited activity, that they will have committed an offence.

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