Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I have learnt over the years never to make policy on the hoof. I said the matter will be reviewed in the context of future amendments of the Civil Registration Act 2004. I am giving that commitment but I am not going beyond that. One needs to examine all the implications of a decision. In terms of the statistics given, these people were domiciled in Ireland. In other words, they were living in Ireland at the time; it was not a matter of three or four years, they were domiciled here. Therefore, this is not the same as what the Senator is seeking and I do not know the implications of her proposal. There is a seanfhocail, "look before you leap". There is no point in making policy on the hoof that one might subsequently find is not practical. It is much more practical to do what I said we would do, namely, to examine this matter in the context of any review of this Act, consider the implications of it and then make a decision. When one makes a decision in such circumstances, one can stick by it rather than making policy on the hoof and then finding there are good-----