Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

This emergency legislation was adopted originally in 1998, so it has been in place almost ten years. Each year it is renewed and that is why we are here again today. It comes around very quickly because it does not seem like a year since we last dealt with it. It is on the Order of Business for both Houses of the Oireachtas.

The Minister of State has mentioned that a report was laid by the Minister before the Houses on Monday. That does not give Members much time to analyse the report. We are not really examining the legislation. There is a need for much more briefing in this regard. We need to ask questions. We do not have the facility in this House to ask questions, revisit issues and tease them out, as perhaps a committee of the Oireachtas might do. I want to suggest that before the decade is up, either this year or next, the legislation be referred to an appropriate committee such as the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights.

There is a need to take a longer-term view of this legislation. Should we continue to renew it each year or should other legislation be enacted on a more long-term basis? Is this type of legislation still needed? We must take such an initiative if this legislation is to be properly reviewed. It is not as if the legislation was enacted a year ago. It was put in place eight years ago and will soon be on the Statute Book for nearly a decade. Perhaps the conclusion reached will be to keep it in place. However, rather than just continuing with the present procedure, we need within the next couple of years to have a much more substantial analysis and review of whether it should be renewed or replaced. I urge the Minister of State to consider that proposal.