Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Brian Hayes and the Leader of the House, Senator O'Rourke, for their contributions.

Senator Brian Hayes raised a number of questions to which I do not have definitive answers. However, I will enter commencement mode and try to make matters clearer for him. I understand that the Law Reform Commission has issued a report which will change the terminology used in commencement provisions. The Minister dealing with the Bill on Committee Stage will go into that matter in greater detail.

As regards section 6, the explanatory memorandum provides greater clarity and states that the section will enable a court, when interpreting an enactment, to make allowances for certain changes which have occurred since the enactment was passed or made but without going so far as to encroach on the province of the Legislature. It also states that this follows the recommendation of the Law Reform Commission in its report, Statutory Drafting and Interpretation: Plain Language and the Law, and that this principle is also applied expressly through the interpretation of statutory instruments. This section represents an attempt to solve the particular problems that have arisen in the past and have been considered in such cases such as Keane v. An Bord Pleanála in 1997, Universal Studios v. Mulligan in 1998 and Mandarin Records v. MCPS (Ireland) Ltd. in 1999. These difficulties flow from changes which occurred during the period between the enactment of the statute and its interpretation. The Senator may deal with that matter in greater detail on Committee Stage.