Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

While we all want simplicity and plainness in the law, we are obliged to have consistency in the use of terms throughout the law. That is why we have the Interpretation Act, which applies to all legislation.

Section 16(c) of the Interpretation Act 2005 determines that "A "Person" shall be read as importing a body corporate, whether a corporation aggregate or a corporation sole, and an unincorporated body of persons, as well as an individual, and the subsequent use of any pronoun in place of a further use of "person" shall be read accordingly. That sounds legalistic but for consistency and transparency, we cannot start using different phrases in different enactments.