Mary Henry (Independent)

It is extraordinary that, for what will almost certainly be a small number of cases, the Government or the Minister involved is not obliged to do anything if incompatibility is discovered. We face a situation where there could be a recurrence of previous difficulties. All that will happen is that a person will receive an ex gratia payment if the Attorney General and an adviser consider it a good idea. As I said on Second Stage, I thought it would be much better if the court gave advice in this area. It is peculiar that this issue is going to be addressed in this way, that there will be no remedy for dealing with future cases and that the person involved in the current case will be referred to some adviser to see what will be the position in terms of an ex gratia payment. This provision was included in the United Kingdom legislation. I understand that it has not caused a great deal of trouble and that there has not been a large number of cases. I do not know why we are not prepared to do it.

In a later amendment in my name and that of Senator Norris, which we may not reach, we propose that the Taoiseach should inform the Dáil about what it was proposed to do if incompatibility went wrong.