Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Jim O'Keeffe and his colleagues in this and the other House for their participation in the debate. It has been an enormous undertaking for the staff and is a timely reminder of the ongoing need to update our legislation and to make it user friendly, to simplify it, to modernise it, to consolidate and reform it. It has been an enjoyable experience for me, as has working with the officials and our team of experts.

This Bill is part of a broader regulatory agenda being pursued by the Taoiseach in Regulating Better. The Bill is the biggest single statute law revision ever taken in the State and, on enactment, it will have a dramatic effect on the volume of material on the Statute Book, repealing some 3,226 statutes, far more than any other previous statute law revision measure. In fact it is more than the entire number of public general Acts of the Oireachtas enacted since Ireland achieved independence in 1922.

I acknowledge the work of the team of officials in the Office of the Attorney General who engaged in detailed and considerable research to identify both the statutes for retention and those for repeal. The research involved the identification and assessment of over 60,000 pieces of legislation. It has been a complex task to identify those Acts that still apply to Ireland and to ascertain whether they are suitable for repeal. Much work has been done by many people and I thank all of them. I also thank Deputies and the Ceann Comhairle for giving the Bill the attention it deserves and for their detailed and insightful comments.

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