Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I have reflected further on the proposal Senator Walsh made on Committee Stage and again today and am happy to say that essentially I am accepting his amendment through my amendment No. 33. Section 24(3)(b) as drafted provides that a court shall not draw an inference from a plaintiff's failure or refusal to respond to attempts by the defendant to elicit the plaintiff's version of events. There was concern, however, that the remainder of the text in that subsection was superfluous and could detract from the no inference provision. I propose to delete that provision.