Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I move amendment No. 10:

In page 18, subsection (1), line 24, after "shall" to insert the following:

", on being satisfied as to the authenticity and sufficiency of the documents submitted to it,".

For constitutional reasons, we believe the High Court should not be made a rubber stamp and should be given some discretion in the matter of inquiring into the authenticity and sufficiency of documents presented to it. Under the section as it stands, the High Court would be obliged to order the arrest of a person merely based on the production of certain documents without any evidence in the conventional sense being offered to it. Will this comply with the Constitution, particularly the right to personal liberty? I understand on Committee Stage in the Dáil, the Minister stated the court has an inherent jurisdiction but the Bill does not state that and it should.