Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I can, but the Senator has raised an interesting point. The Senator's intention appears to be to have a return date of eight days rather than eight working days when an interim barring order has been granted ex parte. It is true that the Supreme Court referred with approval to that section of the Child Care Act, 1991, to which the Senator has referred. Section 17 of that Act provided for the making of an interim care order in respect of a child, including on an ex parte basis, effective for a period not exceeding eight days. However, the Supreme Court – and the Supreme Court can sometimes err too – did not advert to the fact that the eight day period had been amended to 28 days by section 267(1)(a) of the Children Act, 2001.