Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have huge admiration for Senator Kelleher, who is a really great Senator in terms of the work she does. The Minister of State has said clearly he has an open mind on this and he will have to be guided by the legal advice of the Attorney General. He did chair the report in which a definition was recommended. I personally believe definition is a good thing once there is a caveat that the courts would have broad discretionary interpretation because the Minister of State is correct, definition can be endless and the last thing the legislation should do is create a scenario whereby somebody finds himself or herself in a difficult situation and the courts find themselves statute-bound or have difficulty dealing with the situation because we have defined domestic violence in a very specific way. Whether it is two pages or 22 pages, the last thing we want to do is ask why we did not have a 23rd page to cover something that has not been covered, so we must be very careful.

We have a responsibility to the victims of domestic violence to be very careful and to do this right. We are all on the same page in this regard but the one thing we must ensure is that we do it right and that is where we get the guidance from the Minister of State. That is his job. That is why he has the service of the Office of the Attorney General to come back to us and tell us whether something will cause problems. If it is not going to cause problems I know he has an open mind on it and he will ensure the Bill is designed in such a way as to offer maximum protection but if it does cause problems, we have a responsibility to the victims of domestic violence to take that on board.