Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his comments and for his willingness to accept that it might be useful, in the interests of tidiness, to amend section 19(1)(f) to include the president of the Law Society. To take up another point, the Minister said that he does not think the chairperson of the General Council of the Bar of Ireland or the president of the Law Society would nominate without reference to their respective councils or committees. Clearly, that is a matter for the internal rules of those professional bodies. Section 13 does not place any conditions on the nomination process. One would have to read into sections 13(1) and 13(2) that the internal rules and procedures of the Bar and the Law Society were being followed by the chairperson or the president in each case. I do not think one needs to set that out and would have thought that it goes without saying within section 13. Similarly, in section 19, there is no need to say "in accordance with the internal rules of the professional body". If one is referring in section 13 to two specific officers or elected representatives but one refers to just one of them in section 19 in the context of the Bar, that seems unequal or inequitable. It is tidier to also refer to the relevant head of the Law Society in section 19(1)(f).

As I have already said, it is simply a tidying-up exercise. I do not think it makes a difference in practice but it would be better, given how many issues have arisen in respect of inconsistencies and dog's-dinner-style problems with this Bill. I would like it to be tidy on coming out of the Seanad, in a way that it was not when it came to us from the Dáil. That is a fair point. I am not casting aspersions on any Members of the Dáil but am simply saying that the legislation did not come to us in a tidy and internally consistent fashion. I hope it will leave this House in that fashion. That is simply the spirit in which I am offering my point about the language in section 19(1)(f). It should be directly comparable to the language used elsewhere in the Bill, notably section 13 and internally in section 19(1)(g).