Vol. 502 No. 1
103 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the plans, if any, he has to update and consolidate all legislation passed before the independence of the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7196/99]
The Deputy will appreciate that my responsibility in relation to the matters raised in her question relate to those areas of the law for which my Department has responsibility.
The general approach taken in my Department to the question of consolidating and updating old statutes is to advance this to the greatest extent possible as various areas of the law are addressed with a view to producing substantive proposals for law reform. A good example of this approach is the Criminal Law Act, 1997, which, among other things, repealed 21 Acts going back as far as 1695. Similarly, measures such as the Non-fatal Offences against the Person Act, 1997, to a great extent updated and consolidated the law in the area with which it dealt.
On the general question of the consolidation of legislation I might say that the Government has accepted the recommendations made in the report of the Review Group on the Law Offices of the State published in June 1997, which included the establishment of a statute law revision and consolidation unit within the Office of the Attorney General. I understand that a director of the statute law revision and consolidation unit has recently been appointed and will be consulting Departments with a view to drawing up a programme of statute law revision and consolidation. My Department looks forward to co-operating fully with the director in his endeavours in this regard.
