Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senators for their broad welcome for the legislation. In the Lower House I was asked for the opinion of the Attorney General on the validity of anything that had happened from 1 July until the Courts Service brought this to the attention of the Department and the corrective arrangements were put in place a few days ago.

The Attorney General's advice is that there can be no doubt that the persons released on bail since 1 July are validly released. The bail orders were made by the courts. The Attorney General also advised that in so far as recognisances were taken by prison governors, in circumstances where the recognisance was a money amount no issue arises because a term of being released on bail was the handing over to the State that amount of money as security. That advice bears out the adage of possession being nine tenths of the law.

The Attorney General has further advised that the fact that the person who may have physically taken custody of the money was not authorised by statute does not alter the position as the money is in the State's possession and can be forfeited by it. In addition, in so far as the recognisance was a bond then the bond has been validly given pursuant to the court order by the person giving the bond and its validity is not affected by the fact that the person who takes the bond does not have a statutory authority to do so. The technical irregularity does not affect the validity of the bond which is an obligation undertaken to the State.

Senator Regan said that there has been substantial legislation passed recently on the basis, as Senator Boyle puts it, of mass substitution of amendments to Bills. I have asked my Department to check through recent legislation to ensure that there have not been other inadvertent oversights.

I thank Senator O'Donovan for his kind wishes on my appointment. I was interested in Senator Quinn's contribution and agree with much of what he said. The public debate on crime determined the nature of the response to the issue and it is important to have a responsible debate on it. In interviews today following the publication of the crime statistics numerous commentators asked me why I had no new proposals in this area. We have enacted a great deal of legislation in this area upon which the Garda Síochána must act, which it must implement and for which it needs to be resourced. Senator Quinn has no particular objection to this Bill, which I welcome.

Senator Boyle referred to the proper consideration of legislation and the question of the peace commissioner. The tradition was that a record of peace commissioners in a particular Garda district was kept by the district officer, which would seem to be the appropriate procedure. However, Senator Boyle is right that in recent years, it does not seem to be the case that all districts have an accurate picture of all the peace commissioners. The Supreme Court cast some doubt on the validity of peace commissioners exercising powers in criminal matters in recent years, which has led to an erosion of their functions.

I pay a particular tribute to the peace commissioners and to those who exercise their functions. They do so without any monetary reward. It is an express term of the appointment that they can receive no reward or remuneration for the performance of their services, so they are effectively citizens who voluntarily perform civic functions. I have initiated a review of this area since my appointment because they can perform useful functions and can save judicial and police time in the performance of those functions.

Senator Hannigan referred to the same issue and made the point that criminal justice measures are too important to be rushed through this House. I agree. On that note, I thank Senators for their contributions on Second Stage.