David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has said that the purpose of amendment No. 145 is to include the Chief Justice. That is part of it but there is a part of it that the Minister did not explain. The earlier part of the amendment reads: "where the legal practitioner is a barrister, that the Authority, in accordance with Part 9." I refer to the original amendment No. 85 on Committee Stage which proposed section 75(7)(e) should read: "where the legal practitioner is a barrister, that the name of the barrister be struck off the roll of practising barristers and the Honorable Society of King's Inns informed of the fact." The original amendment did not mention the authority. That is a crucial difference between it and the substituted amendment which clearly specified that the authority shall do it. The original amendment seeks "that the name of the barrister be struck off" and does not specify. That is a fairly significant amendment.

Amendment No. 146 is a very practical method, in my opinion, of redress.

I am concerned and interested in amendment No. 151 which reads:

In page 41, in subsection (4)(a) of the section 78 inserted by amendment 88 at Committee Stage in the Seanad, to delete “under”.

The provision refers to where the High Court makes an order and then goes straight into whatever section. I would have thought that the word "under" was required and wonder if the call for its removal is a mistake. The authority is quoted in the section. The amendment does not even make grammatical sense. The original amendment No. 88 reads:

78.(4) Where the High Court makes an order—

(a) under section 74(3)(b),

(b) under section 74(4)(other than section 74(4)(b),

(c) under section 75 (other than section 75(2)(b).

Today's amendments Nos. 150 to 153, inclusive, seek to get rid of the word "under" which I do not understand. It seems to me to be common practice to say "under" and quote the section of the Act that is coming into force. Getting rid of the word "under" seems very odd to me. Perhaps the Minister can explain.