David Norris (Independent)

I agree this is a very important Bill. Every Member of the House supports the Minister in his objectives. Some of us had qualms about some of the approaches but the Bill will pass. I join my colleagues in thanking the Minister. He has taken a clear and personal interest in the Bill. He has been present in the House throughout its passage and did not hand the debate to a surrogate Minister. As always, he was completely in charge of his brief and was able to illuminate certain aspects of the law. I found it a refreshing and educational experience, and there were some moments of the light banter without which Parliament would be considerably impoverished.

I join the compliments to the Minister's team, who have obviously worked extremely hard, and the Bills Office, which had to put up with amendments being fired at it from here and there during a pressurised time. I repeat that I received very gracious assistance from one of the Minister's team who gave me a copy of the original law which we were amending under Senator Henry's amendment.

A rather nasty word, "resile", has slid into common usage from legal parlance. I do not like it and believe that most who use it do not have a complete grasp of its legal meaning — I probably do not fully understand it myself. However, I was glad on this occasion to see the Minister resile a little from his initially enthusiastic endorsement of Mr. Blair, for whom I do not have an admiration, despite his legal background. I noted with some horror that Mr. Blair said that the cornerstone of British law would have to be revisited. I hope the British people have the good sense to get rid of him before he has a chance to do any more damage to fundamental principles.

I am one of the bleeding heart liberals and pointy heads — I make no apology for it. My friend, Senator Jim Walsh, referred to the offence of assisting in the commission of a crime. This is exactly what we have been doing at Shannon Airport. I am glad this is being criminalised in Irish law. I shall remember this when we come to consider rendition.