Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I hear Senator Black’s frustration about the ruling of these amendments out of order. That decision was not made by me. The issue of the waiver has been raised by the Senator, her colleague and colleagues from Sinn Féin and across the House. I am to come back to the House in writing on it. I had a meeting with officials in the Office of the Attorney General today to discuss and make final preparations for the response. It is an important issue for the Senator and everyone, and I want to be clear and get back to her with the correct information. I made a commitment to Senator Gavan to come back before Report Stage and will do so. We are putting the final touches to this, and I wanted to have a discussion with officials in the Attorney General's office before bringing forward anything in writing.

Speaking to the section, the legal waiver under the proposed scheme will only be signed at a point where an offer is accepted by an applicant. Applicants will know exactly what is being offered under the scheme prior to signing a waiver. They will be entitled to financial support for independent legal advice on whether they should sign the waiver or not. Up to the point where they sign the waiver, they will have a right to pursue a legal case through the court. It is important to distinguish this from other schemes. Signing a waiver does not in any way gag or restrict an applicant from discussing the amount offered. That was built into a previous scheme but is not the situation here. Somebody has a right up to the time he or she accepts the agreement and signs the waiver to decide if it would be best to pursue a legal case against the State and can get legal advice on that.