Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----notwithstanding a very large degree of repetition not only this evening but over the past 74 or 75 hours of this debate. I do not want to minimise any of these concerns. They are, in short, the constraints on what an Attorney General might say or do and the concerns about what the Government may be told or knows, or is not told, in certain circumstances, or what it may not know, given the various interactions of key provisions of the legislation. There are the concerns we have discussed on other amendments about serving senior judges being required in any way to enter what is a selection process and having this expressed in the Bill. Of course, I am concerned to ensure that nothing in the Bill in any way interferes with the constitutional position.

Let me say yet again that I am amenable to addressing the concerns that have been raised in the House, if that is the objective of amendment No. 86b, which I feel it is. I will come back on Report Stage to deal with some of the concerns. I cannot commit to dealing with all of the concerns, particularly those expressed this evening. However, in short, I have listened carefully, particularly in regard to the role, words and deeds of the Attorney General, and what the Attorney General may or may not say and can or cannot do.I will come back to that on Report Stage in a way that, I hope, will allow us to progress the Bill.