Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

On Committee Stage, the Minister indicated that he would revert to the Parliamentary Counsel on these amendments. Their purpose is to permit applications for account information and account monitoring orders for criminal investigations in the State or an EU member state, together with applications from EU member states for orders for freezing property or evidence to be made in private. A precedent exists for such provision with regard to restraint orders in the Criminal Justice Act 1994.

Since then, however, the Attorney General has advised against including such provision for such warrants in the Criminal Justice Bill 2004. The Attorney General was specifically anxious that careful consideration be given to the circumstances in which limits would be put on the issue of search warrants. Without specific provision to the contrary, the issue is left open under current wording. The application could be made in public or in private. By including specific provisions, it would cast doubt on the ability to hear applications in private in other circumstances where no such provision was included. The wording as it stands allows for applications to be made in either private or public.

In light of the views of the Attorney General on this issue, in the context of such search warrants where the same principle applies, it is, therefore, not intended in the interests of legal certainty and consistency to accept the proposed amendments.