asked the Minister for Finance the present position regarding the availability of statutory instruments and ministerial orders, if they are freely available to members of the public and if so, from what source; if not the number out of print or otherwise unavailable.
Written Answers. - Statutory Instruments and Ministerial Orders.
386.
All statutory instruments (which include Ministerial Orders) which are not exempt from publication requirements under section 3 of the Statutory Instruments Act, 1947 as amended by the Statutory Instruments (Amendment) Act, 1955, are available to the public by sale from the Government Publications Sale Office either in printed form or, in the time between their making and their becoming available in printed form, in neostyled form.
In the case of individual statutory instruments, a rapid depletion of stocks may occur due to unforeseen demand or other circumstances. In such cases, there would be a temporary delay in meeting orders for the statutory instruments concerned. There are 29 statutory instruments off stock at present, all of which are in course of reprinting (an average of almost 400 statutory instruments were published each year over the last five years).