Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Senator Bradford raises an interesting point. My interpretation is that if a conviction for a relatively minor offence committed in the United Kingdom were considered spent, the record against the person in question should be obliterated or expunged and if a check or trace were done on the person in question, it should find that the person does not have a conviction.

If one does a check or trace on that person, it should find the person does not have a conviction, otherwise the notion of spent convictions would create major difficulties for Irish citizens going to America or elsewhere. I am talking about minor offences. I knew a person of very good character to whom I gave references when going to America. He was a very decent hard-working fellow but there was a family bereavement and on the night of funeral, he was caught on the way home after having a few pints. Nowadays, it is all on record with the PULSE system but at that time, there was no record in the barracks of a conviction. If there had been, he would not have been able to get a green card. He is now happily married in California and is a very upright citizen. He has been there for many years.

If a person comes here from the UK and if he or she has a spent conviction there, we should not be able to trace that record. Perhaps my thought process is not clear but it is an interesting point. I do not expect the Minister of State to have all the answers tonight and we can deal with it again on Report Stage but it is an interesting aspect.