Fiona O'Malley (Dún Laoghaire, Progressive Democrats)

I compliment my constituency colleague, Deputy Gilmore, on his contribution. It is a delight to share a constituency with someone who will always inform and teach one about the legislation being discussed. We all learned from his thorough research on this Bill and the constructive contribution he made on how we might move forward having regard to the experience in the North of Ireland as it consolidated its laws. His contribution was particularly engaging.

It is a pleasure to speak on this historic document. Deputies referred to legislation from the time of the Magna Carta to the Act of Union that will no longer be included in the Irish Statute Book when this Bill is passed. This discussion provided Members with an opportunity to speak on many and varied subjects, not only on the Bill but on any other subject he or she felt the need to discuss.

Towards the end of this speech, Deputy Gilmore suggested the law consolidation unit in the Attorney General's office might not be well-enough resourced. However, it has demonstrated that it has managed admirably. Since the introduction of the Bill before which it had dealt with 90 Acts, it deals with 219 Acts. That shows the unit is adequately resourced, and demonstrates the thorough and good work it does. The Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, mentioned that further repeals might be necessary and that now is not the time to repeal certain laws. That also demonstrates the thoroughness of the task undertaken by the legislation revision unit. I welcome that.

A positive reflection on this Government is that in looking at the various Acts being dealt with by this Bill, we see that it is an historical document and we see how dynamic the process of law-making is. The Minister very generously furnished us with information on the detail of each of the laws. When one looks at the titles it causes us to think. Our primary task as parliamentarians is to legislate and draft law. We must be extremely careful of the transient nature of that law.

My point about the Constitution is that at least we have a written document. It reflects the era of its construction, 1930s Ireland. This and previous Governments have indicated that this is the case, that the Constitution should be under constant review. I welcome the fact that we have an Oireachtas committee that examines the Constitution and recognises the need for change within it. I find it an offensive document in terms of the status of women. I do not mind using that term. We have already commented on how one would not get away with using the traditional language found in old legislation. We must ensure that a document as important to us as is the Constitution does not cause offence. There is still a great deal of work to be done on regulatory reform.

I will not speak for long. I strongly support the Bill and appreciate Government's commitment to better regulation. This Bill considers Acts passed up to 1922 and it is understandable that it stops there because a broad remit exists between 1200 and 1922. I hope Acts passed in the years since 1922 will be considered in the future as we need to continue this process. It is important to make laws as easy to read and as uncomplicated as possible. The Minister of State made the point that if people are to be subject to the law they must reasonably be expected to have access to the law. One cannot get copies of some legislation to which we are still subject and that is not good enough.

I add the caveat that, as has been pointed out to many people, it is not a defence to argue unfamiliarity with the law. I applaud the work done by the section within the Attorney General's office. I look forward to see what other Bills will be repealed. I encourage the Government to keep this under active consideration. It is important to create laws relevant to people and the Statute Book contains such laws. For that reason, I hope we continue moving from 1922 to the current date.

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