Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I fully appreciate the reasons given by the Senators for tabling this amendment. I am prepared to examine the matter in the context of the promised family law legislation. The Supreme Court, however, did not rule that ex parte protection orders were unconstitutional.

The legal advice available to me is that there are sufficient grounds to distinguish the two types of order. The orders are very different in character: one removes a spouse from the family home, while the other order seeks to protect spouses while they remain in the family home. There is a fundamental distinction, therefore, between both orders. A protection order does not bar a person from their residence but instead orders them "not to use or threaten violence against, molest, or put in fear" the applicant.

I do not accept that the rigid scheme which the Supreme Court has now required us to apply to the interim barring order should be extended to the protection order. The protection order has always worked well but the difficulty with it was that it was not strong enough to deter the conduct about which Senators protested earlier in the day.

I am certainly prepared to have the matter examined in the context of the review of family law legislation, but I am not prepared to accept the amendment if it is pressed now.