Mary Henry (Independent)

When the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was here yesterday and some of us pointed out that we had received considerable briefings from the Bar Council and the Law Society, he said he was not going to do a head count of who was in favour of his Bill and who against among his legal colleagues. However, it is worrying that there appears to be such concern that these areas could be interpreted narrowly. Senator Norris has quite rightly pointed out that hospitals and schools are where there have been problems in the past, and I certainly do not want to introduce any list system. It was because those organisations were privately run but had a public function that we ended up with a list system with the Laffoy commission. That is the reason I would really like to see the amendment accepted by the Minister of State. It is very important.