After the Second Reading of this Bill it was sent to a Special Committee. There it underwent considerable amendment. It was then sent to the draftsman and the draftsman found the Bill was badly drafted and the amendments were not in legal phraseology. Accordingly he was faced with a difficult situation and it was thought advisable that the easiest way out of the difficult position was to redraft the Bill in the form of amendments to be moved in place of the existing sections of the Bill. It will therefore be necessary, if the amendments are carried, to delete each section. There must be a motion to delete the section because the amendments that are proposed here are to take the place of the existing sections with the exception of Sections 7 and 8, which, I think, it will be necessary in the end to move the retention of. Sections 7 and 8 are the only sections that will not disappear if the amendments, as they appear on the paper, are carried. Amendment 1 is in the nature of an explanatory or definitive section. It defines the various phrases in the Bill. I beg to move amendment 1:—
In page 2, before Section 1, to insert a new section as follows:—
(1) In this Act—
the expression "the Minister" means the Minister for Justice; the word "sweepstake" means a drawing or distribution of prizes by lot or chance whether with or without reference to the result of a future uncertain event; the word "hospital" means and includes any hospital, sanatorium, or other institution which affords medical or surgical treatment; the expression "governing body" means the council, board, committee or other body having the control and management of the hospital in relation to which the expression is used.
(2) This Act applies to every hospital which complies with all the following conditions and to no other hospitals, that is to say, that such hospital—
(a) is situate in Saorstát Eireann; and
(b) is in receipt of voluntary subscriptions from the public; and
(c) affords treatment to members of the public without discrimination, and in particular without discrimination on the ground of religion; and
(d) reserves, on a monthly average, twenty-five per cent. of its accommodation for indoor patients for the use of patients who do not pay for treatment in such hospital or who pay or on whose behalf is paid not more than ten shillings per week for such treatment; and
(e) is not subject to any provision, whether contained in a statute, charter, regulation or otherwise, debarring persons from election or appointment to positions or any particular position (other than chaplain) on its staff on account of religious belief.