Pat Rabbitte
Ceist:1 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Taoiseach his Department’s legislative priorities for 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40409/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 1 March 2006
Ceisteanna (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Trevor Sargent
Ceist:2 Mr. Sargent asked the Taoiseach his Department’s legislative priorities for the remainder of the 29th Dáil; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1234/06]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Joe Higgins
Ceist:3 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Taoiseach his Department’s legislative programme for the current Dáil session; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1862/06]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Enda Kenny
Ceist:4 Mr. Kenny asked the Taoiseach his Department’s legislative priorities for 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2978/06]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin
Ceist:5 Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Taoiseach his Department’s legislative priorities for the remainder of this Dáil; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3215/06]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (29 píosaí cainte)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together.
My Department has one item of legislation for the current Dáil session. The National Economic and Social Development Office Bill 2002, has completed all stages in the Dáil and is awaiting Second Stage in the Seanad.
My Department also has one Bill included on the C list of the Government's legislative programme. This is the statute law revision pre-Union Bill which will repeal all redundant pre-1801 legislation and will be published shortly.
Whatever else the Taoiseach has, he does not have too heavy a legislative programme.
Agreed.
This has much merit as it gives the Taoiseach time to move around the country to do the things he has done with such innovation as compared to any of his predecessors. Given the workload in the Department in terms of Bills, is there an argument for more legislation to be put through the Taoiseach's Department? For example, the money advice bureau Bill is on the Order Paper since 2002 but has not moved. The Law Reform Commission reports directly to the Taoiseach. Is there an argument therefore for more legislation to be led by the Department?
In the context of legislation from the Taoiseach's Department, is it intended that any legislation will be brought forward this year in terms of enabling any amendment to the Constitution?
The Department of the Taoiseach traditionally does not have much legislation. However, it is involved across Departments in a great deal of legislation. Despite legislation not being under the name of the Department, we are involved in a significant range of Bills at any time, probably more than any Department, and mainly through Cabinet committees and our position there. That includes what comes through the Law Reform Commission report, even though most of the legislation tends to pertain to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
We have been involved in a great deal of work. The White Paper on better regulation covers not only the Bill I mentioned but also issues concerning the Statute Book and statutory instruments as well as legislation that affects the various areas of competition. At least ten different Acts are in train but none of them is in my Department. However, the better regulation group within my Department will drive most of those.
The first phase of the project was completed with the enactment last year of the Statute Law Revision (Pre-1922) Act. The statute law revision (pre-Union) Bill is the second phase where all legislation dating from before 1801, when the Act of Union came into operation, will either be retained or repealed as appropriate. The Bill will state, by means of a white list, all those pre-1801 statutes that are to be retained as they are still in force. At the moment the white list refers to approximately 300 statutes and all others from that time will be repealed, about 2,300 in number.
In fairness to the people involved in this, a very small group within my Department working with one individual in the Attorney General's office, they have done an enormous amount of work on this. They have had to go through all the Acts, close on 2,500 in total. What they have done will be of huge benefit for legal houses, finance houses and others. It is a cleaning up of what has been a very complicated Statute Book. I accept this work started a decade ago but we are now in a very good position where a CD-ROM of current legislation is available which has proved to be very beneficial for those who regularly deal with legislation, that is, most of the legal and finance houses in the country. It has been very useful work although it will still take a good number of years to complete. I was surprised to see that so many pre-1801 Acts remain, even after the examination. It is a very useful exercise and removes many issues that affect the regulatory and competitive areas as well as other sectors. It is useful work by a small number of people.
Can I take it from that response that we cannot expect a referendum, for example, on the EU constitution, this year or this side of the general election?
That issue continues to develop in Europe. I think I said six weeks ago that I did not see any possibility of that and I do not really see that changing. Belgium finished its ratification process just two weeks ago. I understand that Estonia, which had originally decided not to proceed with ratification, is now going to do so as well. Others have been urged to do it too. The German Chancellor, Ms Angela Merkel, says we should proceed as is. Our French colleagues say that is not the case. However, a degree of momentum that it should proceed is building again.
I am not convinced as to how we can deal with that until we see what happens with the French situation. I have been watching very carefully, as I am sure has Deputy Rabbitte, to see what the intenders for the French Presidency are saying. It appears they are very different things. I do not agree with what they say because they are back to the cherry-picking business, which will not work. That is forcing France and others to consider whether they should deal with the issue. It remains in the balance and I would not change what I said previously. I do not think it is realistic to proceed until we see what the French and the Dutch are doing. We could very well reach a position by Christmas where up to 20 countries will have ratified the constitution.
I wish to take up a point raised by Deputy Rabbitte regarding the body of legislation in the Taoiseach's Department. With regard to possible legislation that might arise from the Central Statistics Office, which is under his remit, and in light of the problems shown to exist with the electoral register, could the CSO take account of its national remit and reform the electoral register process? At the moment we have 20% more people over 18 on the electoral register than there are in the country. This suggests that the CSO might have a role and that the Taoiseach, who is politically in charge of that organisation, might be able to suggest a way forward.
On the issue of a referendum, the Taoiseach informed me previously that he is in negotiations with counterparts in Northern Ireland regarding legislation to cover people considered unsafe to work with children. I understand that the Taoiseach undertook this himself to ensure that the blockages were removed. Will he indicate whether those blockages have been removed and whether he is pushing forward?
That does not arise out of these questions.
The Taoiseach has an interest in this area and has discussed it previously.
Whatever happens with the electoral register, and for as long as I have been around as a politician there have been problems with it, work is ongoing at present. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, is examining proposals, some of which are short-term, concerning the electoral register for the coming winter, which begins around November and is completed around February. There are also issues about how the electoral register is handled in a long-term way. I have long been of the view that one will almost have to separate it and do it in a different way because it will never work the way it is currently done. One must examine how the census is compiled and other processes, but it will never work under the present system. It has always been very inefficient and deficient in every way. It has never been any other way.
While it may not be strictly in order, the other issue raised by Deputy Sargent, I am still pursuing it and we are getting a great deal of co-operation on North-South issues, in fairness to the Secretary of State, Mr. Hain. That is one of the issues we have asked him to try to help us with.
The legislative programme, including the Taoiseach's Department, in September 2005 promised 17 Bills. In January 2006——
The questions refer specifically to the Taoiseach's Department.
I know that and I have said, "including the Taoiseach's Department". A total of 13 Bill were added to the new legislative programme. The Seanad——
I would prefer if the Deputy would confine himself to the questions before us. There are many questions to the Taoiseach——
I want to give the Ceann Comhairle some information
——and we would like to get through some of them.
The Seanad has not dealt with any legislation from the Taoiseach's Department in this session. The Ceann Comhairle may not have known that.
The Taoiseach is the Head of the Government and of the country. There is a great deal of concern, without panic, in respect of the business of emergency planning. Obviously, people are concerned about avian flu, for example. Has the Taoiseach considered co-ordinating and underpinning the role of the task force on emergency planning through his Department? It appears to me that there are various responsibilities filtered down through different Departments with no central control or agency to be reported to. That is something the Taoiseach, as Head of the Government and on behalf of the task force on emergency planning, might consider, namely, putting the task force under the responsibility of his Department so that, God forbid, in the event of a national emergency, he would have a clear, responsive unit for the entire business of the country.
What happens whenever there is a difficulty or even no difficulty is that the Secretary of Government co-ordinates with the heads of the Garda, the Army and other groups on the detail and they can deal with the broad policy positions. That system does work. The office of emergency planning rests with the Minister for Defence. In the event of any difficulty the contingency arrangements are worked out fairly well. It is the Secretary of Government that co-ordinates it. For example, the last big event was that of 11 September 2001. Within an hour and a half a meeting was convened in Government Buildings between all the agencies. That system is set down and it works. The officials keep in touch on a regular basis.
Will the heads of the next statute law revision Bill be published in advance? Does the Taoiseach propose to advise the House of the details of any pre-1800 legislation that he would then propose to repeal? Among those, is he looking at repealing legislation that refers to the private ownership of rivers and fishing rights? I am not speaking only in relation to the traditional focus vis-à-vis landlords from the neighbouring island, I am thinking also of many of our own wealthy indigenous players in this regard. Will the Taoiseach look at that issue and will he publish the legal advice he has received and oft-times relied on in his efforts to excuse his Government’s inaction in relation to the whole area of ground rents? When will he tackle that thorny question?
That is a matter for another Minister. I suggest the Deputy submit a question to the line Minister.
Certainly it is within the Taoiseach's ambit and I hope it will also be in his compass. We are waiting.
On the statute law Bill we have already published some of the pre-information and will publish more but not the heads of the Bill. The entire legislation on the white lists will all be published shortly. I think they are nearly ready. They have had to go through 2,600 Acts which was a huge task and have now circulated it to all Departments for comments. It is hoped to have it ready——
Does that include rivers and fishing rights?
I will not sort property rights today.
Arising directly from the Taoiseach's earlier reply, his Department has a particular role, and I understand that, in dealing with the intersection of different Departments and legislation that arises between them. In regard to the necessary resolution of a contradiction that has arisen — I ask this because the Taoiseach's Department has a particular responsibility in regard to the talks on social partnership — the Competition Authority having struck down the right of trade unions to represent freelance journalists, freelance actors, musicians and so forth because of their being regarded as an undertaking by the Competition Authority and as self-employed by the Revenue Commissioners their union has had to sign an undertaking that it will not represent them in collective bargaining and this could knock on to atypical workers. What is involved is revision of the Competition Authority Act, a revision of the trade union Acts, with which the Taoiseach will be familiar, and possible new legislation bringing us into line with the International Labour Organisation resolution on the right to collective——
The Deputy has made his point. I think we are going outside the questions.
It is only the Taoiseach's Department, taking a particular interest in competition law, that can resolve this issue which has existed for nearly two years and which, I imagine, is a huge factor in the opening of the talks on social partnership.
While there is no legislation pending I am aware of the point and the arguments raised by the Deputy, which he has raised previously. It is an important point. It is also a difficult issue. The Deputy made the point that it covers many areas and how it can feed into legislation, which I introduced, on part-time and atypical workers. I have raised this issue with my own section previously. It also relates to some of the FÁS issues, including the recent case. I have some papers on the matter and will send a note to the Deputy.