I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
This Bill deals with arrangements to print and publish statutory instruments, otherwise known as statutory rules and Orders and it will replace the Rules Publication Act, 1893. Successive law officers have advised that the Act of 1893, although technically continued in force by the Constitution, was not fully adapted for application in this State and that it has therefore been merely of imperfect obligation. While efforts have been made to secure adherence to the procedure laid down in the Act of 1893, the results have not been satisfactory or uniform in that some statutory Orders have been published outside the official, numbered series, and on the other hand instruments of relatively minor importance have been included.
The existing arrangements have been the subject of discussion in both Houses of the Oireachtas and have been adversely commented on in the courts. In order to end the unsatisfactory position the Statutory Instruments Bill has been prepared in consultation with the various Departments. It proposes to establish a simple, uniform and reasonably flexible procedure by ensuring that when statutory instruments are made, notices to that effect will be published in Iris Oifigiúil and the instruments themselves printed and published in the official, numbered series and made readily available to the public.
Having regard to the volume and variety of statutory instruments, it is not proposed to insist on the publication of all in the official series. Provision is accordingly being made empowering the Attorney-General to exempt from inclusion in the official, numbered series those statutory instruments which because of their merely local or personal application, temporary operation or limited effect, or for any other sufficient reason, should not be published in the official series. To avoid multiplicity of references by the rule-making authorities, the Attorney-General is further empowered to exempt not merely individual instruments but classes of instruments. An example of "any other reason" which might weigh with the Attorney-General in deciding on exemption would be a statutory instrument of a confidential nature, such as some of the Defence Force regulations, or an instrument which received adequate alternative publicity, e.g., the numerous regulations issued by the Civil Service Commission regarding competitions for vacancies in the Civil Service.
Exemption from the printing and publishing arrangements set out in Section 3 (1) of the Bill does not mean that the exempted instruments will not receive adequate publicity. The manner and form of such publicity may be left to the rule-making authority. Sub-section (5) of Section 3 of the Bill clearly recognises this by stating that—
"nothing in this section shall be construed as restricting the printing and publication of any statutory instrument which is not a statutory instrument to which this Act primarily applies".
Section 2 (2) of the Bill provides that the decision of the Attorney-General will be final in determining whether the Bill when enacted applies to a particular statutory instrument. This is a change from the procedure under the Rules Publication Act, 1893, which provides that such questions shall be decided by the British Treasury with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons.
In view of the possibility that some statutory instruments to which the Bill will apply may inadvertently be omitted from publication in the prescribed series or may be so published but without an official number, provision is made in Sections 3 (2) and 4 (2) that the validity of any such instrument will not be affected by such an omission.
Provision is made in Section 3 (3) of the Bill to ensure that contravention of a statutory instrument will not be punishable as a criminal offence unless adequate publicity has been given to the instrument when made, and a defendant charged with contravening a statutory instrument is to be acquitted unless it is shown that reasonable steps were taken before the date of the alleged offence to bring the purport of the instrument either to the notice of the public as a whole or to the notice of persons likely to be affected.
While there is no definite legislative sanction at present for the publication of statutory instruments it should not be inferred that appropriate measures are not taken to give them adequate publicity. All Departments are instructed that every statutory instrument affecting the public should be available to members of the public seeking it, as soon as it comes into operation. To enable this to be done every such Order is published in neostyle form whenever it is not possible to have it printed in time. In addition, notices of the making of such Orders are published in the Press and also announced over the radio when necessary.
It is desirable, however, that there should be legislative sanction for the publication arrangements and that there should be some determining authority clearly prescribed by law— the Attorney-General as provided in the present Bill—to decide which statutory instruments should or should not be included in the official series and published in the manner set out in Section 3 of the Bill.