Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

These amendments have been grouped together as they are technical in nature. They involve relocating definitions in the Bill, clarifying references and correcting typographical errors. Amendments Nos. 5 and 30 follow on from an amendment suggested by Fine Gael during Committee Stage in the Dáil. The Minister agreed at the time that the current construction was a little unusual in that "patient" is defined in section 12 although the term first appears in section 11 and is used again in section 13. Having discussed the matter with the Parliamentary Counsel, the Minister agreed to relocate the definition in section 1. The amendment to section 12 is consequent upon this change and simply provides for the removal of the definition of "patient" from that section. This was done by means of amendments tabled in similar terms by the Minister and Deputy Murphy.

On amendment No. 13, section 3(3)(a) makes it clear that where references to "the Court" arise, that is, by means of the use of a capital letter "C", this is to be understood as meaning "the District Court". A small letter "c" denoted courts in general. The court in question in the opening line of subsection 4(a) is the District Court. However, in line 3, page 6, there is an erroneous reference to "the court", which, following the definition, means a court other than the District Court. The purpose of this amendment was to correct that.

Amendment No. 14 is a technical amendment following from the definitional issue I mentioned in respect of courts. Amendments Nos. 25 and 26 involve tidying up and clarifying certain expressions in the Bill. Amendment No. 25 is concerned with correcting the reference to "tribunal". This should be a reference to the "Review Board". Amendment No. 26 provides for the insertion of "Review" before "Board" so the references will be consistent with the reference to "Review Board" in the interpretation section of the Bill.