Section 52 was a provision of the Offences Against the State Act 1939 which required people to give an account of their movements. The House will be aware that those arrested under the Offences Against the State Act 1939 could be required under section 52 to give an account of their movements to the police and convicted if they remained silent in certain circumstances. This created a catch 22 for many arrested under the section because, on the one hand, they were told they were not obliged to make a statement and that, under the Judges' Rules and the Irish equivalent of Miranda jurisprudence, they were not obliged to say anything unless they wished to do so and that anything they did say would be taken down in writing and might be used in evidence against them. Later in the same interview the Offences Against the State Act would be plonked down on the table in front of the person concerned who would be informed that the rules had suddenly changed and he or she would be required to tell something and that for failure to give an account of his or her movements he or she would be sentenced to ten months imprisonment. This put the accused person in a cruel dilemma. On the one hand, he or she knew he or she had committed an offence if he or she failed to account for his or her movements or gave an untruthful account but if he or she gave a truthful account, the notebooks would be out and he or she would face a conviction on foot of his or her confession.