Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

It is not normal practice in our tradition of statutory draftsmanship to have declarations of principles as ordinary sections in legislation. The declaration of principle or objective is contained in the Long Title and I do not want to recite that again, but it is very clear that the objectives set out in the Long Title conform, by and large, with the amendment. Please God it will not fall to this Bill to be construed by the courts too often, but if it does then clearly the courts will construe it in the light of that Long Title. It is not our normal practice to insert a separate section outlining general principles. That section would not have any particular weight as against the other sections, many of which already contain the statements of objectives or particular principles which the Senator has sketched out in the section.