Alex White (Labour)

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 19, lines 20 to 25, to delete all words from and including "if---" in line 20, down to and including "State." " in line 25.

I am interested to hear what the Minister has to say about this amendment. The reason for this amendment is that it would appear to be permissible in international law to criminalise someone outside the State who directs the commission of an offence inside the State. I do not understand the reason there is a particular issue in regard to that. There is no requirement for that person to be an Irish citizen or resident. To be clear, this is somebody who is directing or is accused of directing the commission of an offence inside the State who is outside the State at the time. There is no requirement for that person to be an Irish citizen or a resident.

We believe section 19(1) is unduly restrictive. There might be more rationale for what is done in section 19(2) and (4), which is limiting the liability for people who assist after the fact but there does not appear to be any strong justification for paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) in the new subsection 19(1A) in section 19(1). The subsection would simply read: "Any person who, outside the State, aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission of an indictable offence in the State shall be liable to be indicted, tried and punished as a principal offender". There is no need for those prerequisites to be in place. I would have thought there is certainly no requirement that the person be an Irish citizen or an Irish resident. I am curious to hear the Minister's response to that.