Vol. 219 No. 7
asked the Taoiseach what steps have been taken to ensure adequate co-ordination and the avoidance of overlapping between the Statute Law Reform and Consolidation Office under the Attorney General and the Law Reform Section of the Department of Justice.
5.
asked the Taoiseach when the Statute Law Reform and Consolidation Office was set up; and what are its functions.
With your permission, Sir, I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together.
The Statute Law Reform and Consolidation Office was set up in April, 1951. The duties of the Office are, under the general instructions of the Attorney General, who is responsible for all Parliamentary drafting, to deal with proposals for law reform and consolidation of statute law and to give effect to such proposals by way of drafting appropriate Bills. In addition, the Office has, subsequent to its establishment, been given responsibility for the editing of the annual volume of the statutes and the separate annual index thereto and the editing of the Consolidated Index to the Statutes and the Index to Statutory Instruments, which are published at appropriate intervals.
In carrying out these functions, the Office works in collaboration with the Department or Departments concerned with any particular field of reform or consolidation.
In relation to the Law Reform Division of the Department of Justice, any proposals originating in that Department for law reform or consolidation in the fields with which that Department is concerned and which advance to the stage of preparation of legislation must necessarily go through the process of Parliamentary drafting. The drafting may be carried out by the Parliamentary Draftsman's Office or by the Statute Law Reform and Consolidation Office. There has always been co-ordination and collaboration between the Statute Law Reform and Consolidation Office and the Law Reform Division of the Department of Justice in carrying out such work, and there is no overlapping of effort involved.
