Ivana Bacik (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I, too, support Senator Ward's amendments and the intention and spirit behind them. I have raised the important issue of codifying our criminal law to ensure consolidation of criminal statutes over a number of years in successive Seanad terms. There are some glaring areas of criminal law, not just money laundering and financial offences as Senator Ward will appreciate, such as, in particular, sex offences, where the law is unnecessarily complex and we have never had a single codifying Act of the sort we saw in England and Wales some years ago. There is clearly a need for that sort of consolidation to be carried out. I echo the praise for the Law Reform Commission and its great work on this, and indeed for the codification group. Every time we have a criminal law Bill before us, these amendments are a source of concern and frustration. Miscellaneous provisions Bills are the worst. They are the most difficult to incorporate into the body of any substantive area of criminal law. It is long overdue for more general reform. I appreciate that the Senator is not going to press the amendments but it is important to make these points in the course of the debate.