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

I thank the Senator. He is right that the Report Stage debate is scheduled for four hours at the moment. As the Senator knows, Committee Stage was originally scheduled for three hours and we have been dealing with it for a lot longer. That is absolutely fine because it is important legislation. It is important that we give the amendments that were in order and, in certain circumstances, those that were not in order, good consideration. We will continue to do that on Report Stage.

I thank the Senator for setting out the reasoning behind his proposal to add these words, but I am not in a position to accept the amendment. What Senator Boyhan is proposing would require careful consideration and advice. While I know the Senator understands this, the Long Title of an Act is an important aid to the interpretation of the overall legislation. While it is possible to have some freedom in its construction to describe in a general way the purpose of the Act, when there is a doubt as to the meaning of a particular provision in the Act itself when that is read in its wider context within the enactment in which it appears, in some circumstances the legislator will use the Long Title to guide the meaning of one of the sections or subsections.

As we know, the approach being adopted to this scheme is simple and non-adversarial. Eligibility will be established by reference to institutional records and time spent so a person does not have to demonstrate evidence of his or her experience in an institution in order to qualify for the scheme. For this reason, there was some deliberation, again in consultation with the drafters and the Attorney General's office, on the wording of the Long Title to ensure that it remained consistent with the provisions of the Bill.

The current Long Title includes the words "in recognition of the circumstances experienced". That is the reasoning behind this Bill. The payments are being provided in recognition of the circumstances experienced and this was agreed as being permissible as it is with reference to the agreed purpose of the scheme, which is to recognise time spent in the institutions, the harsh conditions, the emotional abuse and the other forms of trauma, stigma and mistreatment experienced by residents while residing in mother and baby home and county home institutions. Any change to that would require very detailed engagement with the Attorney General's office and an understanding of what is proposed to be meant by the term "historical actions". Senator Boyhan set out some of his understanding of what that means but what we have in there already, which is "in recognition of the circumstances experienced", captures the intent of the scheme as currently designed.We would need a very clear reason to broaden that. We would also need to receive legal advice on it.