Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together.

The Government legislation programme, which was published on 16 January 2024, sets out Government legislative priorities for the current parliamentary session. The current programme includes 46 Bills for priority publication and drafting across a number of areas, including healthcare, access to housing, stronger safer communities and road safety among many others during the spring Dáil session.

Since this Government came to office in June 2020, a total of 187 Bills have been published, of which 177 have been enacted to date. During this current Dáil session, we will build on this work through the priority publication of 22 Bills and the drafting of a further 24 Bills. There are currently 25 Bills on various Stages across both Houses of the Oireachtas.

These include legislation that will amend and improve our planning system, provide for the regulation of gambling in Ireland and protect the rights and safety of children, their parents and all those involved in a surrogacy arrangement. I will continue to work with all Members to progress legislation through both Houses of the Oireachtas.

The current legislation programme does not include any Bills in preparation in the Department of the Taoiseach as there are no legislative matters in the Department's remit that require to be prioritised at this time. The Department will continue to play a central role in supporting effective co-ordination and prioritisation of policy and legislative developments across government through Government meetings, Cabinet committee structures and the Government legislation committee.

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