Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

When may we expect the foreshore legislation and the promised legislation which ensues, under various international agreements concluded some months ago, from the expansion of the Irish sea bed?

Does the Tánaiste envisage change in the drafting arrangements for legislation between now and September. The list of proposed legislation circulated on 23 April, for example, becomes meaningless if the legislation is not enacted in the lifetime of the Dáil. Are new measures for the drafting of legislation envisaged? Will legislation be put out for drafting or have changes been made to the drafting section so the legislative programme circulated in the autumn will have some meaning and we can envisage what can be debated in the House in the coming term? Otherwise we will see a repeat of a meaningless exercise where some legislation is listed for years and is never reached.

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