Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 5, line 20, to delete “the period of 5 years” and substitute “each of the periods of 2 years and five years”.

I hope Senator Zappone will reciprocate in due course and second the amendment because my colleagues are otherwise engaged. In fairness, the lobby for immigration reform is meeting Members in the House today and I gather that is where many of my colleagues have gone.

I will not delay the debate. We have had the discussion already and I am grateful to those in the Bills Office for their input. The Minister may recall that I had tabled these amendments in on Committee Stage but I was somewhat late so I decided to treat them as Report Stage amendments.

Amendment No. 19 is Senator Zappone's amendment but the purpose of my amendments is to have a more frequent study or review. The review period of five years is perhaps somewhat long. I am giving the Minister an opportunity to reconsider the five year period and to consider review periods of two years and five years. I understand the need to have a somewhat longer period than one might normally have. I presume there will not be a significant amount of protected disclosures made. However, I believe the five-year period is somewhat too long.