James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I certainly hear Senator Ward's frustration. He was very much to the forefront in seeking legislation to address what is an unconstitutional element in our legislation. Senator Ward deserves significant praise for this. He highlighted it to the Department a long time ago. Unfortunately, perhaps through not heeding the Senator's warnings, we have ended up in a situation where urgent legislation must be passed. I expect the Department to address the treason situation quite urgently. Drafting can be done quite quickly but the issue is addressing the potential for unintended consequences through other legislation. Not really apropos of this but I am reminded of a senior counsel when I first started. A client was giving out for being charged so much for a ten-minute application and the senior counsel responded that they could teach the person in an hour how to do the ten-minute application but it would take them 25 years to teach them what to do if something went wrong. There is an element of this. Senator Ward's drafting is excellent but we have to take a precautionary approach and ensure there are no other consequences in the legislation. In this respect, unfortunately at this time I cannot accept the amendment. It is a pertinent amendment and one the Department will study and will table its own amendment in due course.