Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

To address the point by Senator Norris about the right in republican justice to have a large sum of money paid to one on the establishment of a violation of one's rights as a result of a legislative violation, there is not always such an automatic right. When an Act of the Oireachtas is declared unconstitutional, there is no automatic right to damages. The plaintiff in proceedings which establish unconstitutionality does not have an automatic right to damages. The same position obtains as far as the convention is concerned. In certain circumstances, the court in Strasbourg has awarded damages and that is the legal context in which this provision has been drafted. One always has the right to seek damages in Strasbourg under the system that operates there. We have interposed the option and the authority for the Government to make a settlement of an issue before it gets to that stage. We have not provided for a jurisdiction in the Irish courts as that is a separate jurisdiction to the jurisdiction which exists in Strasbourg. That is the essence of the matter.

Amendment put and declared lost.

Amendment No. 28 not moved.

Question proposed: "That section 5 stand part of the Bill".