The proposal arises from the recommendations of the Criminal Law Review Group which reported this week. The group recommended that cases that ended in acquittal should be reopened when new evidence comes to light. This is incompatible with the doctrine of autrefois acquit or double jeopardy. Changes in other common law jurisdictions have been made to allow such measures and they should be carefully considered since the Tánaiste indicated to the Dáil on Committee Stage that he was sympathetic towards this principle.