David Norris (Independent)

——the UK Government licensed the export of a custom-built torture chamber to the Gulf states.

There have recently been a number of court cases involving people in and around the Oireachtas, the costs of which have been absolutely crippling. Humanely speaking, whatever the rights and wrongs of the cases, one must feel sympathy for people faced with legal bills of €1 million or €2 million. Due to the enormous and unregulated fees charged by the legal industry, citizens are being intimidated. They are being frightened out of access to justice and to the courts. The Competition Authority should consider this. The whole judicial system should also be investigated, including the political appointment of judges and the fact that they do not have to make any declarations of interest. Judges seem to put themselves above the law, ignoring mandatory sentences. I am against mandatory sentencing, but the Oireachtas made the rules and the judges ignored them. The whole system must be investigated.