Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The amendment promises much but fulfils little in the sense that it does not provide the desiderata or criteria which are to be operated on by the courts. This is the difficulty with the amendment, which I cannot accept. It is an important issue and I understand the motivation behind the amendment.

The amendment says that the phrase "having regard to the circumstances of the particular case," should be deleted and replaced with the term "in exceptional circumstances". If that was done, no criteria at all would be provided.

Senator Terry points out that we are not obliged to follow opinion on this matter, that the Supreme Court is not the Legislature and that the Oireachtas has a separate voice on this. Nonetheless, the court has expressed the opinion that the phrase "in exceptional circumstances" is meaningless. It would not do the House credit if the Bill was amended and that meaningless phrase restored. To give that phrase flesh and blood, an outline would have to be given in the legislation – a task that has eluded the Opposition Senators who have tabled this proposal.