Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

By excluding the courts and the State's obligations we are not giving our citizens the best opportunity to defend their rights. Section 5 provides that the High Court or Supreme Court may "where no other legal remedy is adequate . make a declaration . that a statutory provision or rule of law is incompatible with . the Convention provisions". In that case, the litigant can obtain no other legal redress and the legislation remains in force. By continuing the way the Minister is proposing, we are not providing the best and clearest opportunity to citizens to defend their rights and that is central to these two amendments.