asked the Minister for Justice if, in view of the public interest involved, he will publish a summary of the Succession Act, 1965, and the Registration of Title Act, 1964, in convenient pamphlet or booklet form.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Summaries of Acts.
48.
I would invite the Deputy's attention to the fact that there is already available an explanatory memorandum which summarises and explains the provisions of the Succession Act. Amongst other things, the memorandum sets out in convenient tabular form the old and new rules of intestate succession, which are so frequently the subject of inquiry by members of the public. In addition, the explanatory sidenotes to the Bill of the Succession Act have been retained in the text of the Act. These notes show the provisions of the Act that are new to the statutory law and also former enactments that have been amended or consolidated.
In the case of the Registration of Title Act, a detailed explanatory memorandum was published with the Bill of the Act as passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas. This memorandum is now out of print but I am making arrangements to have it reprinted and made available again.
I think that these two memoranda are very valuable. Each provides a summary of the Act to which it relates. Each is couched in as simple a language as the subject allows. When introducing the Bills of these two Acts, every effort was made by my predecessor and myself to explain in non-technical language the object and effect of the new law. And I am satisfied that the debates both in this House and in the Seanad constitute instructive commentaries on the nature of each Act. The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for Ireland receives a subvention from public funds towards the cost of publication of legal text books and I understand that the Council have already commissioned a book on registration of title, which I hope will be published as soon as experience has been gained of the operation of the new Act.
However, I will think over the suggestion in the Deputy's question and see if anything further requires to be done along the lines suggested.
Arising out of the Minister's reply, in regard to the public interest, may I ask him if it was on his instructions that three Deputies were refused permission to visit the farmers in Mountjoy?
If the Deputy wants to carry on with nonsense like that, he can.