I would like to take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to the Special Committee of Seanad Eireann for the very fine work they have done on this Bill. The Schedule to the Bill as introduced provided for the repeal of the whole or portions of just over 70 enactments. The extent of the repeal varied from the deletion of a few obsolete words to the repeal of whole enactments. The work of examining each item in the schedule was long and complicated. The Bill is a repeal of enactments Bill and makes no change whatsoever in the law as it is at present administered.
The committee had to be satisfied that each item, whether it consisted of a few words or of the whole of an Act of Parliament, was clearly obsolete or spent. The Special Committee met on 12 occasions and every item on the Schedule was meticulously examined. As a result of that examination 38 amendments were made in the Schedule. The Bill as amended has been improved and will constitute the first step in the simplification and codification of local government law which at present is extremely complicated. The work done will greatly facilitate the publication of a textbook on local government law, the preparation of which is well in hand. When the Bill becomes law it is proposed to introduce a Statute Law Revision Bill and then a consolidation Bill in order to bring up to date the legislation dealing with local government.