Derek McDowell (Labour)

The judge has the decision in the matter. Clearly a prisoner cannot participate unless the prisoner is somehow involved. I want to avoid a person saying a testimony is invalid because a notice was not served on the prisoner and his legal representative when both were well aware of what was happening and it was adequate to serve it on the legal representative. Physically serving a notice would require handing it to the prisoner. I want to make this workable without in any way diminishing the prisoner's rights. If the prisoner's legal representative is aware of the situation, to co-notify the prisoner and to require the opposite to be done is an unnecessary impediment to making the system work. If somebody in Portlaoise has to testify in a court in Dublin, I do not want a judge saying the Seanad amended this Act so that he or she cannot actually hear the person because somebody did not hand him or her a notice before the hearing started.