If it is a bar to prosecution for a person simply to say that he or she was acting for humanitarian reasons or for a humanitarian organisation, where is that decision made? It may not be charged but the provision allows for it to be charged, and the burden is on that organisation or the person who acted in a humanitarian way for humanitarian purposes, to prove that.
In its submission the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission said, "The Commission recommends that further consideration should be given to revising the General Scheme to provide humanitarian assistance as an exemption, or exclusion, under proposed legislation as opposed to a defence." It specifically asked for humanitarian organisations, or people acting for humanitarian reasons, to be excluded from the Bill as an exemption or exclusion, not as a defence.
Key terms by TF-IDF across 6,255 words from 8 speakers. The summary quotes the highest-scoring sentences verbatim — nothing is paraphrased.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Catherine Connolly and Brendan Howlin; Níl, Deputies Jack Chambers and Brendan Griffin.
| Question | Result | Tá–Níl |
|---|---|---|
| Amendment put: | Lost | 47–65 |
| Amendment put: | Lost | 49–74 |
| Amendment put: | Lost | 49–75 |
| Amendment put: | Lost | 45–76 |
| Amendment put: | Lost | 46–65 |
| Amendment put: | Lost | 46–66 |
| Question put: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." | Lost | 52–71 |
| Amendment put: | Lost | 36–81 |
| Question put: "That the motion be agreed to." | Carried | 79–42 |
Party shown is the one each member held on 2021-12-01, frozen by a dated join — not their party today. The Oireachtas API publishes no date of birth and returns an empty gender field for every member in this period, so no age or gender breakdown is shown.