Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

Fine Gael went to the bother of producing a Private Members' Bill on the matter and as a matter of courtesy and precedent, gave it to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform for perusal. The Minister, Deputy McDowell, leaked the document to the Irish Independent to try to damage Fine Gael. Meanwhile he was doing nothing on the issue and I understand he did not even have the heads of a Bill prepared for the Cabinet meeting yesterday. A debate would be very welcome. I would like to hear from the other side of the House as to whether Fianna Fáil has full confidence in the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Private utterances would suggest otherwise.

Following the release of Mr. A, we face the appalling scenario of pending court cases being dropped and people named, which should be on the register of sex offenders, being removed from it. It is also possible that people will now sue the State for wrongful imprisonment which is outrageous, especially in the case of Mr. A who raped a 12 year old girl and admitted having done so.

On a related issue, I am aware that in cases of legal ambiguity some barristers may suggest that one has a good case while others may suggest that one has a bad case. The difficulty is that one does not know where one stands until the case goes to court. We had the same scenario with nursing home charges. While the Government felt they were legal, the Supreme Court ruled otherwise. Does the State have the ability to take a test case in the courts? For example, when it received advice that there was ambiguity over the section of the Act, could the State have taken a test case, rather than leave it to an actual case that has resulted in the current scenario?