Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I have been working very hard; as I said, I was up all night. Surely in the 15 road traffic and related Acts that have been passed by this Government and its predecessor since 1997, there was room somewhere to repeal an Act that referred to a place in Ireland that does not even exist anymore — I refer to Kingstown.

Similarly, this House passed the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006 last November. Notwithstanding its substantial reforms of the land law in Ireland and the mechanisms surrounding conveyancing and land registration, that legislation made no mention of repeal of the following Acts: the Drainage and Improvement of Lands Supplemental Act (Ireland) 1867; the Christ Church Lands Act 1481; the Plus Lands Act 1703; the Timber Act 1735; the Harcourt Street Act 1777 providing power to the Archbishop of Dublin to let lands for building; the King's Inns Act 1798; the Crown Lands (Ireland) Acts 1822 and 1845; and the Leasing Powers for Religious Worship in Ireland Act 1855. We still come across disputes over the ownership of and rights to land. I have no doubt such disputes will continue for many years. The Property Registration Authority often needs to consider Acts that predate 1922. It is great to bring such legislation up to date. This is just a selection of the many land-related acts that will not be repealed by this Bill. If not today, perhaps on Committee Stage, the Minister of State might explain what these Acts contain that is so important.

I do not underestimate the task faced by the Minister of State and his researchers in the Office of the Attorney General regarding assessing the potential relevance of historical Acts and statutes to modern Ireland. It is a mammoth area, but it seems to me that there is much more to be done. Fine Gael in the next Government will bring such legislation up to date and will continue what has been started with this Bill. This is an important process for a number of reasons. It is a responsibility of a modern democracy to ensure that its Statute Book and its collection of laws are modern, just and up to date. Those that are not should be cleaned out and reformed. This is particularly clear when we look at the use of words in some of the Acts that pre-date the establishment of the State. The Lunatics Act, the legislation on the prohibition on taking horses of freemen for transport work and the legislation providing free hostelry for Knights of St. John, while all historically interesting, bear no relevance to modern times or modern attitudes. Reference is made to the King's wardships and marriages to be sold for his profit in 1331.

More importantly, we now have a very effective and efficient Statute Book that is available on-line to anyone who wants to access it. In his closing remarks, the Minister of State referred to schoolchildren. It would be great for schoolchildren to know what happened prior to 1922. When I was going to school I did not appreciate the history I learned. It is only afterwards that one appreciates our historical documents. That a considerable number of historical documents were destroyed in the Four Courts when it was burned is soul destroying. Major work and effort has to go into updating what was enacted, all because 90% of our records were destroyed in the Four Courts. I appreciate a great deal of work has been taking place behind the scenes and it is important that continues. This is a resource that is of great use to practitioners, academics, members of the Judiciary and Irish citizens. The Office of the Attorney General deserves credit for putting it on-line and for maintaining and keeping it up to date.

However, it is a database of post-1922 statutes, so anyone who wishes to consult legislation that still has legal effect but was passed prior to 6 December 1922, has no way of accessing electronic copies of those statutes. Perhaps the Minister would examine that issue with a view to ascertaining if this can be done.

Surely, we should be moving towards a stage where all applicable law is easily available to all citizens. The Fine Gael Party supports this Bill, having discussed it at our front bench meeting on Tuesday morning. In the next Government we will endeavour to ensure it is brought up to date. This is something Deputy Jim O'Keeffe would wish to see progressed. I hope this Bill and its successors are a step down that road and I offer the support of the Fine Gael Party in that respect; I hope it has an easy passage through the House.

See this speech in context