Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach debate

Statute Law Revision Bill 2016: Committee Stage

Chairman

We have a quorum so we can begin. Apologies have been received from Deputies Sean Sherlock, Michael McGrath and Pearse Doherty. Deputy Dara Calleary is substituting for Deputy Michael McGrath and Deputy David Cullinane is substituting for Deputy Pearse Doherty.

The meeting has been convened for the purpose of consideration by this committee of Statute Law Revision Bill 2016, which was referred to the Select Committee by order of the Dáil on 30 November 2016. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and his officials. Two amendments have been tabled. It is intended that we should consider the Bill until we conclude Committee Stage today. Is that agreed? Agreed. A list of grouped amendments has been circulated and we shall proceed to the consideration of the Bill.

SECTION 1

Question proposed: "That section 1 stand part of the Bill."

Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (Deputy Eoghan Murphy)

Section 1 provides for the repeal of the 301 Acts that are listed in the Schedule. The approach taken with this section differs from previous years, and previous Statute Law Revision Acts. With previous Acts, it was the practice to deem all statutes of a particular category, for example, secondary instruments prior to 1821, to be repealed with the exception to those statutes listed in the Schedule. This was because these Acts repealed several thousand statutes, leaving only a handful in force. It was reasonable, therefore, to list only the legislation that was being retained on the Statute Book. In this case, it is more reasonable to list the spent and obsolete Acts in the Schedule and provide for their repeal in the Bill. That is what we have done in this section. The Schedule lists the specific Acts identified in the course of the review as appropriate for repeal because they have ceased to be relevant or have become unnecessary.

Question put and agreed to.

SECTION 2

Question proposed: "That section 2 stand part of the Bill."

Deputy Eoghan Murphy

Section 2 provides a number of savings clauses which are standard for a Bill of this nature and which follow a similar format to previous Statute Law Revision Acts. Section 2(1) involves a restriction in order to save rights - while proceedings are pending - from obliteration that would result from unrestricted repeal. Section 2(3) provides that the inclusion of an Act in the Schedule shall not be construed as meaning that the Act, or any provision of it, was of full force and effect immediately before the passing of the legislation.

Question put and agreed to.

SECTION 3

Chairman

Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 are related and may be discussed together.

Deputy Eoghan Murphy

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 4, between lines 5 and 6, to insert the following:

“(3) The relevant statute may be cited as the Association for Promoting Christian Knowledge Act 1800.”.

Amendment No. 1 proposes a minor technical change to add a Short Title to the Act of 1800 being reinstated by section 3 of the Bill. It has been the practice with prior Statute Law Revision Acts to create a Short Title for any Acts remaining on the Statute Book if one does not exist already. The addition of the Short Title in this instance eliminates a minor anomaly that would otherwise have left the Act of 1800 as the only in force Act on the Statute Book without a Short Title.

Amendment No. 2 is a minor technical amendment to amend the Long Title of the Bill to reflect the amendment of the Statute Law Revision Bill 2007 and provided for in section 3. This is in order to avoid any doubt that the provisions of section 3 are within the ambit of the Bill.

Amendment agreed to.

Section 3, as amended, agreed to.

TITLE

Deputy Eoghan Murphy

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 3, line 6, after “unnecessary” to insert “and to amend the Statute Law Revision Act 2007”.

This section provides for a Short Title and collective citation.

Amendment agreed to.

Question proposed: "That the Title, as amended, stand part of the Bill."

Deputy Dara Calleary

I have a question for the Minister of State. My colleague, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, raised the notion on Second Stage that this may be the last such revision and that the Minister of State was to reflect on the matter. Is revision going to be an ongoing process? When will the next revision of legislation take place?

Deputy Eoghan Murphy

We discussed this matter on Second Stage. We talked about pausing this current piece of work because there are other priority areas on which the particular unit that deals with this area feels that it needs to focus in the course of next year. As I explained to Deputy O'Callaghan at the time, statute law revision is important work that has been ongoing for a number of years. There is more work still to do. Let us consider this particular Statute Law Revision Bill. It is the first time that we are considering Acts that were enacted by the Oireachtas. That is another important step in terms of cleaning up the Statute Book. There is further work to do in this area and it needs to be done. It has been paused for the moment to allow us to consider other priority areas.

Bill reported with amendments.

Chairman

I thank members, the Minister of State and the officials for attending.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach debate - Thursday, 8 Dec 2016

Statute Law Revision Bill 2016: Committee Stage

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach debate -
Thursday, 8 Dec 2016