Seanad debates

Thursday, 19 June 2003

European Convention on Human Rights Bill 2001: Committee Stage.

 

The Minister has said, in effect, that the courts are not an organ of the State. That is news to me. What else are they? If the court is not an organ of State, what is it? Is it animal, vegetable or mineral? Common sense tells us that the courts are an important organ of the State and they are so defined and referred to in official literature. Why go through the fiction of saying that, for the purposes of this Bill and to protect certain fossilised sensibilities, they are not an organ of State when we all know they are? If the Minister is telling the House that the courts are not an organ of the State, what are they? A clear definition would be useful.

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