Brendan Ryan (Labour)

That remains to be seen. Did the Minister of State say a connected person can make the application but cannot appeal? That confuses me. It may be that in my advancing years I am more easily confused than before but in this case I do not think so. I do not have great faith in the constitutional judgment of the Parliamentary Counsel. It has been found wrong as often as it has been found right. Although most Members of the Oireachtas warned it that the previous legislation to this was probably unconstitutional, the Attorney General advised the Government otherwise, and it was subsequently found to be unconstitutional. While I appreciate that the permission of the courts is needed, the fact that we leave it out does not mean people will not seek the permission of the courts and the courts will, as they have done in less obvious cases of injustice, give permission for the cases to be heard. We should legislate to deal with this issue instead of it having to go to the courts. We could have thought of a way to do so.