Alex White (Labour)

I note the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Seán Power, is smiling. It is an issue on which all parties could work together to ensure the cycle of violence in our community is addressed. This is the spirit in which the Bill has been proposed and the basis on which we ask the Government side of the House to support it.

I doubt the Bill, as drafted, is perfect. It has not had the benefit of the draftsmen sitting behind the Minister of State or the experts he can draw upon to scrutinise legislation in detail. It is, however, a carefully drafted Bill and merits examination by the Government side.

There was a bad example of the type of attack and counter attack on this issue in the mid-1990s. Then it was suggested any crime committed was the direct responsibility of the Minister for Justice, as the Ministry was then called. No Member believes that. We want a serious and proper debate on what can be achieved.

Neither is it a case of simply throwing up generalised demands for legislation. Sometimes legislation is not what is required. There is a danger that politicians propose and enact legislation just to re-assure the public rather than it having any merit. Much of the criminal justice legislation on the Statute Book has not even been used. We must be more honest with the public. This Bill is an exception which puts an existing witness protection scheme on a statutory footing. This is the basis on which I ask Government Members to consider supporting this Bill.

The Supreme Court stated the witness protection scheme needs to be put on a statutory footing. The Court of Criminal Appeal was deeply critical of the scheme's operation in the Gilligan case. Why can we not use the basic template of this Bill and examine how it can be enhanced? This would allow us to make progress as a group of responsible politicians rather than simply hurling brickbats in the Government and Opposition pantomime that characterises debates of this nature.