Vol. 411 No. 2
9 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Social Welfare if, in view of the extensive legislation now covering the social welfare area which has been enacted since the last consolidation Social Welfare Act in 1981, he will consider the introduction of another consolidation Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
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 many amendments and extensions to the social welfare system over the last ten years I consider it appropriate to introduce a new consolidation Bill. Work has already commenced on this. I hope to be in a position to complete the work in 1992.
There is not a great deal that can be said if the work is in progress. All I can do is congratulate the Minister for taking on board the contents of the motion. As the Minister will appreciate, such a consolidation Bill is extremely complex given that Social Welfare Bills are brought forward on an annual basis and a huge range of amendments, resulting from budgetary changes to the social welfare code, accumulate over a ten year period. Our social welfare code is extremely complex but if we can bring it all together and tie up all the loose ends in one publication, it might be easier to deal with in the future.
I would just like to say that much work has been done on it to date. I said when I put the previous Bill through the House ten years ago that a further consolidation Bill should be put through within ten years at the outside. I hope Deputies will co-operate when that Bill is introduced as it can take a great deal of time and effort to get such legislation through even though it is only a consolidation Bill.
