Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I committed to a process of reflection and I have engaged in that reflection over the past while. I consulted again with the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, so I have given this matter full and careful consideration. The right of election to a jury trial has been an issue for Senator McDowell down through the years. I go back to 1992 when he made a submission to the Law Reform Commission raising a constitutional issue relating to the right of an accused to elect for trial by jury. On that occasion, that point was not accepted by the LRC in its pretty substantive and authoritative report on the law relating to dishonesty, which stated that the Oireachtas-----