Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

To be fair, that seems to be common sense in one respect but this is the consistent way that wording is used. If "written" is inserted once, some court of law might rule that a line in a particular Bill refers to "written" while in another Bill it does not. There is a standard way for the Parliamentary Counsel to draft that. This is the normal language used. The word "written" is not normally included. From a common sense point of view, I agree with the Senator but it could lead to confusion because it is not the normal language and, as such, it is superfluous. I accept the Senator's point but I am told it could lead to problems from the point of view of the Parliamentary Counsel.