Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I wish to refute Senator Cummins's comment that this exercise is a farce. This is one of the most far-reaching Criminal Justice Bills I have seen in the House. It is very sensible that the Tánaiste does not want to put extraneous matters into the Bill and he has given cogent reasons for this.

There is disquiet because of the increase in organised crime gangs and heinous crimes in the past six months. It is important that effective mechanisms are in place to deal with them. The Bill does that, and its measures go some way towards re-balancing the system but they must be monitored and may require re-balancing again. The arguments made have been disingenuous.