David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also forgot to welcome the Minister of State. However, I am sure we are all very glad we are here and not out canvassing for an election on 19 December.

The Minister of State seems to have two opposing ideas in his mind at the same time. One is that the list is exhaustive and the other that it is too restricted. With regard to the question of it being too restricted, one of the reasons I will be withdrawing my amendment and supporting Senator Bacik's is that she has put in a kind of catch-all provision at the end which includes any other relevant matters. I believe such a phrase cures that situation.

The Minister of State has a very human feeling that witnesses and people in the court could be subject to long and gruelling questioning and cross-examination on the basis of this list. However, I do not think barristers need this list if they are determined to be difficult. We saw that in the McCabe case where all kinds of rubbish was introduced and there was aggressive cross-examination and so on. That is in the gift of the barrister involved. They will not need this list. If they are determined to be troublemakers and go down this avenue, they will go down it and they will produce their own list which may well be more extensive than this one. However, I would say that the majority of barristers would not be like that. They would be decent sensible people. It would probably be pretty unusual for a barrister tendentiously to raise all these issues.