Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is an unusual Bill to say the least. It is a Bill which we had some fun looking through and something I had not come across before. It proposes to repeal spent and obsolete secondary instruments enacted on or after 1 January 1821 and before 1 January 1861, which is a bit before my time. This Bill will also repeal those instruments enacted before 1 January 1821 that are still enforced and were not repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 2015. Given the length of time that has passed and considering that these are spent and obsolete instruments, we will support the Bill.

The context in which it arises is that it is the latest in a series of measures that have been enacted to modernise and improve public accessibility to the Statute Book and secondary legislation. The statute law revision programme is the State's programme to identify and remove obsolete and spent primary and secondary legislation from the Statue Book. The aim and purpose of the programme is to repeal legislation that has ceased to be enforced due to changes in circumstances or the passing of time, and legislation that, while technically in force, is no longer of relevance in practice today. Given that we are talking about legislation that predates 1861, it is of a very historic nature. It predates the establishment of this State and partition by 61 years. As such, it is probably worth noting, as we have given time to have this debate, the type of Ireland we had at that time. This legislation predates Gladstone's speech in the House of Commons on Home Rule, which took place in 1871. It predates the Fenian Rising of 1867 by at least six years. For those unfamiliar with that event, the Fenians proclaimed a provisional republican government. They also issued their own proclamation which predated the 1916 Proclamation by 50 years. The last few lines of that proclamation are quite interesting. It states:

Remember the past, look well to the future, and avenge yourselves by giving liberty to your children in the coming struggle for human liberty.

Herewith we proclaim the Irish Republic.

The legislation was enacted during events such as the Tithe War, which took place between 1830 and 1836. That campaign was one of mainly non-violent civil disobedience, albeit with different episodes within it. It arose after people were forced to make cash payments to the Church of Ireland in respect of the religious affiliation, and that was obviously in the context of the Penal Laws that came before that.

We are dealing with secondary instruments as part of the Bill but some of these relate to primary legislation and deserve a mention while we are dealing with this or while we are on a trip down memory lane when it comes to this legislation. Catholics were excluded from public office from 1607, with Presbyterians also barred from public office from 1707 onwards. There was a ban on the Irish language being used in court in 1737. There was a ban on intermarriage with Protestants, although that was repealed in 1778, and there are many other Acts of this nature. It is worth recognising the role that was played in the 1798 rebellion of the United Irishmen, who obviously drew their inspiration from the French Revolution of 1789 and its rallying calls based on equality. They also looked cod the abolition of the system known as the landlord's church and they referred to the Church of Ireland, which required those tithes to apply to Catholics and dissenters. There was the failure of that rebellion and so on but then we had the Act of Union in 1800 whereby Britain moved to incorporate Ireland into the United Kingdom. Despite promises, it would take 30 years before Catholic emancipation was delivered, although that can be disputed.

One of the secondary instruments we are repealing as part of this Bill was legislation to stop an event involving Daniel O'Connell event. Following his election to the British Parliament, it is worth noting that the size of the Irish electorate was significantly reduced to mainly propertied class. The Young Irelander, John Mitchel, believed that this was always the intent. He believed it was to detach propertied Catholics from the increasingly agitated rural masses, the kind who would later find expression in Michael Davitt's Land League. Before the Land League there were the Whiteboys and the Ribbonmen and these rebellious acts against landlordism and for equal treatment would prove an inspiration for many across the world.

This is unusual, though quite interesting, legislation. It is strange to be dealing with something from that era. However, things never cease to surprise me in this Chamber and this is interesting as well. As I said, given the nature of it we will be supporting the Bill.

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