Seanad debates

Wednesday, 1 July 2009

Aviation (Preclearance) Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages

 

9:00 pm

Photo of Noel DempseyNoel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

Before dealing with group 2, I thank Senators for their positive comments. When bringing forward legislation, in particular complicated legislation that requires significant attention, I try to bring it to the Seanad first, because of my positive experience with one of the longest pieces of legislation outside of a Finance Bill, namely, the Planning and Development Act 2000. The contributions made in this House to that Bill greatly enhanced and strengthened the legislation.

With regard to the nature of business in general, whether in this House or the other, there is always political cut and thrust and business is often adversarial in nature. I do not believe this is necessarily the best way to deal with legislation. On many different occasions, even on simple issues, such as those pointed out by Senator Ryan in the course of this Bill with regard to wrong dates or wrong citations in legislation, as well as on much more complicated issues, it is useful to hear the views of others and to try to act on them. I will always try to do this and I thank Senators for recognising it.

Amendment No. 2 is a good case in point. At least three of the Senators present, one from Fine Gael, one from the Labour Party and my colleague, Senator John Ellis, discussed this aspect of amendment No. 2 that I am proposing. The amendment proposes that in page 9, subsection (1)(i)(II), line 7, after "expedient" to insert "in the interests of the person being searched". The amendment concerns the functions of Irish law enforcement officers. Having teased out the issues and the use of the words "or is otherwise expedient", this gave rise to a good debate and a questioning as to whether the interests of the traveller or anybody else were being looked after.

The point was well made by the Senators opposite that while the purpose of the phrase "or is otherwise expedient" was to provide an appropriate level of protection for the individual, it could be interpreted that it was being inserted for expedient purposes other than those of the traveller. I gave an example of what we intended which was meant to clarify the position and, while Senators opposite accepted that as a clarification, I knew they were still concerned. I appreciated the concern that the words might be used against the interests of the passenger or the person being searched.

At that stage, I was not in a position to respond immediately to the Labour Party Senators on the amendment but I said I would reconsider it. Having examined the legal position and taken legal advice in order to avoid any doubt as to what the words are to mean, I brought forward this amendment to the Dáil and it was passed last night. It clarifies the position and ensures the wording we are now explicitly putting into the legislation makes it very clear that in the phrase "or is otherwise expedient", the expediency relates to the person being searched - the passenger, in other words, not the pre-clearance officer.

This amendment enhances and clarifies the Bill. I thank Senators for raising the matter initially and for improving the Bill in this manner.

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