asked the Minister for Justice the items of legislation at present under preparation in his Department; the purpose of each; when he expects the legislation will be introduced to Dáil Éireann or Seanad Éireann; and, if applicable, the date originally given for the likely introduction of each item of legislation when he, or his predecessor, first publicly referred to his intention to introduce it.
Written Answers. - New Legislation.
99.
At any time work is in progress in my Department on a wide range of new legislation and law reform measures in accordance with priorities decided under the Government's programme of law reform.
It is my intention, in accordance with accepted practice, to announce proposed new legislation at the stage where it has been approved by the Government.
100.
asked the Minister for Justice when he plans, as promised in the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats Programme for Government, to (a) commence the codification of criminal law (b) remove the death penalty (c) change the libel laws and (d) introduce legislation governing telephone tapping.
The position in relation to the matters referred to by the Deputy is as follows:—
(a) Codification of the criminal law
A comprehensive review and codification of the entire criminal law would require considerable staff resources. Such resources could only be provided by diverting staff from work on priority legislation. The only viable approach is to tackle the task on a systematic basis concentrating on priority areas and this is what I am doing.
(b) Death penalty
I propose to introduce legislation to abolish the death penalty early next year.
(c) Libel laws
The law relating to libel is being examined by the Law Reform Commission and the question of amending the law in this area will be considered in the context of the commission's recommendations.
(d) Telephone tapping
It is my intention to have legislation to regulate the interception of telephone communications prepared as soon as possible. The Deputy will appreciate that with the very heavy legislative programme of the Government it would not be possible for me to give a precise indication as to when that legislation will be ready.