Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I move amendment No. 30:

In page 49, subsection (8), line 28, after "admissible" to insert ", provided that no statement insofar as it consists of or includes a statement controverted by the defendant in proceedings shall be admissible under this section unless the defendant was afforded the opportunity to exercise the rights referred to in subsection (10)(a)".

This section purports to make all statements admissible and the court can simply take into account whether cross-examination was allowed. This is constitutionally illiterate, as the right to cross-examine is a constitutional one and, as the Minister is aware, was found to be so in the Haughey case. A controversial statement must be inadmissible unless there is a right to cross-examine.

Amendment No. 32 is a similar amendment. It rectifies a legal error in section 59. Whether the section applies is a legal matter for the court to decide and not a factual matter which depends on the existence of reasonable grounds for belief.

Amendment No. 33 was tabled because the section does not specifically afford the defendant reasonable time, following service, to arrange for travel to the other state.