The next major item of legislation in the social welfare area will be the legislation to give effect to changes in schemes and programmes arising from the 1991 Budget. I am at present preparing proposals in a number of areas for inclusion in that legislation.
The first consolidation of social welfare legislation since the unified social insurance system was introduced in 1952 was the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981, which I introduced. In view of the volume of legislation in the meantime and particularly in recent years I consider that it would be appropriate to introduce a new Consolidation Bill. Some preliminary work has been done and I hope to be in a position to complete the work during the next year.
I am also in the process of progressively consolidating the various social welfare regulations, and am making significant progress in this regard.