This Fisheries (Statute Law Revision) Bill is one of the first brought before this House, having been subjected to the special procedure provided under the Standing Orders for the handling of consolidating legislation. It was introduced in the Seanad and, on the Second Reading Stage, the Bill was referred to a special committee of the Seanad by which all its sections were carefully examined.
The purpose of the Consolidation Bill, to which the present Bill is a preliminary, is to assemble all existing fishery law into one statute and, at the same time, to repeal all other statutes precedent to this Bill in date. If the Dáil passes that Bill, therefore, all the fishery law of this country will be comprised in one Act. It is intended to review the whole fishery law as it then emerges and, in due course, to bring before the House for discussion on its merits a comprehensive amending Bill designed to bring fishery law into line with modern concepts of what that law should be in relation to all inland fishery matters.
The purpose of this Bill is to eliminate the anomalies that had grown up over the past 100 years in the course of enacting 40 or 50 statutes, which by consolidation it is now proposed to reduce to one. This Bill does no more than provide that a uniform term should be used throughout the whole body of the legislation, as it then was, for the same thing; to give an instance, an engine, a net, a thing— all possibly describing one and the same thing. All these descriptions were carefully collated and one word was chosen as being best descriptive of that "thing" and, wherever a different word was used to describe that thing in any statute, advantage was taken of the amending Act to substitute therefor the new and accepted term. This Bill comes to the House with the certificate of the Seanad that it has examined it with very great care and is satisfied with it. The Bill introduces no material change into the fishery law as it at present stands, all anomalies are removed and it is an essential step in the preparation of the code of the type of amendment and revision that I anticipate I shall be in a position to ask the House to undertake in nine or 12 months from to-day. If there is any specific matter arising in connection with this Bill upon which any Deputy wants any information, I need hardly say that I am at the service of the House to give such information if I am in a position to do so.
Question agreed to.
Agreed to take the remaining stages to-day.
Bill put through Committee without amendment, reported, received for final consideration and passed.
Ordered: "That Seanad Éireann be notified accordingly."