Declaring (b) unconstitutional would not assist applicants. And declaring (a) unconstitutional would go much further than the argument, especially in circumstances where the SC has recently upheld (a) against a frontal constitutional challenge.

Interested in people's thoughts, but a solution might be to follow the approach taken by SC in Carmody and prohibit prosecution of the two applicants until the Oireachtas takes steps to address the unconstitutional discrimination identified in the Court's judgment.