Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have good news for the Senators as far as amendment No. 93c is concerned. It would place a duty on the commission to notify each and every applicant but Senators will recall that during the lengthy debate on 20 February, I agreed to accept an amendment moved by Senator Craughwell, namely, amendment No. 87b. I doubt that Senator Norris has a clear recollection of it but it is on the third additional list of amendments. The import was to insert a new section relating to the provision of information to applicants. Said section will ensure than an applicant is informed as to whether he or she was the subject of a recommendation for the purposes of Chapter 2 of Part 7 and whether it was the case that the commission considered the person was not eligible for appointment. There could be an ineligibility of which the person would, quite rightly, be entitled to be notified. I made it clear that in the event of there being any unforeseen difficulty regarding the wording as proposed by Senator Craughwell, we could revert to the matter on Report Stage. The statutory duty that amendment No. 93c seeks to impose is effectively the same as that set out in paragraph (a) of the new section 42 inserted by Senator Craughwell's amendment, which was presumably supported by Senators McDowell, Lawless and Norris. That is the good news but in view of the fact that there may be an overlap and that said overlap might give rise to confusion, if not uncertainty, I am reluctant to accept amendment No. 93c. However, I am satisfied that what is contained in the amendment is already covered in the amendment from Senator Craughwell that I was willing to accept on 20 February.