Ms Finola Flanagan:

Unlike with other projects, this is not a specific issue of law but rather how law looks when it is made. In all the submissions we got, while we got many suggestions for specific items that people want us to review, the constant comment was that people could not find out what the law was. They could not find it or see it because it was amended and re-amended and so on. This led us to suggest that legislation might be kept in another way. For instance, it might be consolidated first and then codified so that all the law on one topic might be kept in a mini-code and then, when amended, it would remain within that code and not spread out across a range of other legislation which can only be found by looking at the legislation directory that we produce. That is just a list of amendments and is designed to tidy up a very difficult situation. In the end we would hope to suggest that law might be brought into force in a way that remains tightly contained.

We produce a classified list of subject matters, which might provide the basis for the various codes. While not specifically identified, this was perhaps the single most constant request if the suggestions are examined closely. It must be very difficult to legislate if one finds it hard to know what the law is. Amendments cannot be readily understood particularly if they are dealt with urgently. If they were to be slotted into a law that comprehensively dealt with a topic, this might be much more comprehensible over the long term.