Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have been examining the way in which legislation is produced for the Oireachtas. For many years Governments have published lists of legislation which they hoped to publish during Oireachtas sessions. Over the last couple of years these lists have come under pressure from troika requirements because the country happens to be in a programme. This has put additional pressure both on the Departments preparing the legislation and on those in the Attorney General's office who have to put the legislation into shape in terms of drafting it. We need to investigate the way in which legislation is prepared, in terms of its remit and spectrum, as it goes through the circle of Departments.

Perhaps if there was consultation in the beginning with expert draftsmen in the Office of the Attorney General, legislation could take the short circuit before arriving there. The staff there are very experienced and could point out what needs to be done with regard to the issue rather than have people working very hard on areas that might not be a priority for the legislation envisaged. It might be better if we were to ask ourselves what legislation we want to have enacted before the end of the year, rather than stick to the old method which had a list of ten or 20 pieces of legislation and we were happy to get 18 or so of them published.

I agree that the process of how legislation is prepared needs to be examined. The Deputy is aware that once the heads of a Bill are approved, they go to the relevant Oireachtas committee for the views of the political process. This has been helpful. However, there is a bottleneck with legislation in that when it all comes in from the different Departments, it must go through the channel of the Office of the Attorney General. This puts enormous pressure on the people who must deal with this complex legislation. There may be a way of streamlining that process somewhat, but it may be necessary to look at the issue of the staff available here. The Deputy knows, it is not easy to get such staff as expert drafters require experience. I am interested in looking at the issue in that context.

A number of pieces of legislation are being prepared to deal with the courts, the Court Service and the Judiciary. The process by which members of the Judiciary are appointed may be due for focus under some of that legislation, but I cannot say it is because I have not seen the detail of what is proposed. However, I would be happy for that issue to come up later as part of the overall work of the Minister for Justice and Equality, which has an exceptional range, because of the need for legislation in that area. Legislation in this whole area is an issue we could discuss in the House with a view to achieving better results for the exceptional efforts made by personnel in Departments and in the Office of the Attorney General. Their work may be disjointed somewhat and if there was initial consultation between the experts, that might short-circuit quite a deal of the work. I intend to speak to the Attorney General about this.

See this speech in context