Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 4: To ask the Taoiseach his legislative priorities for the summer session of Dáil Éireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16029/06]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 5: To ask the Taoiseach his legislative priorities for the remainder of 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17145/06]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 6: To ask the Taoiseach his legislative priorities for the remaining lifetime of the current Dáil; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19167/06]

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 7: To ask the Taoiseach his legislative priorities for the remaining time of the current Dáil; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20715/06]

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 8: To ask the Taoiseach his legislative priorities for the remainder of the current Dáil session. [20850/06]

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 8, inclusive, together.

My Department has one legislative matter for the current Oireachtas session. The National Economic and Social Development Office Bill 2002 has completed all stages in the Dáil. The Bill commenced Committee Stage in the Seanad and this is due to resume on Thursday, 15 June.

My Department will soon be bringing the text of the statute law revision (pre-union) Bill to Government, with a view to publishing it in autumn. This Bill will continue the process of modernising the Statute Book by repealing over 2,000 ancient statutes, dating from prior to 1801, which are now redundant or obsolete. The Bill will also retain a further 300 or so statutes from the same period that are not proposed for repeal at present.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The draft heads of the Bill to deal with the nursing home inspectorate were published in April. When does the Taoiseach expect the details of the Bill to be published?

The establishment of an insurance scheme for the victims of infected blood by means of a hepatitis C and HIV compensation Bill is needed. When is that likely to appear?

In the context of the current controversy, the issue of a register of persons considered unsafe to work with children was raised on a number of occasions. The Government has repeatedly promised to bring forward legislation in this area and such a register is clearly long overdue. Hand in hand with enhanced vetting, the register must be a key aspect of any approach to child protection. However, there is no sign of the legislation needed to establish the register, even though it was promised and has appeared on the Government's legislative programme time and again. Despite repeated questioning, there is as yet no evidence of when the legislation will be introduced. Will the Bill be published in the few remaining weeks of this session? When can we expect to have the register? It can only happen through legislation. I am aware that backlogs can form in the Parliamentary Counsel's system but this is surely a critical matter. Earlier, I raised an issue, about which I was informed by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, regarding backlogs in the vetting process. This register is needed and cannot be established without legislation. The Taoiseach might make arrangements so that the necessary Bill will be brought forward quickly.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I do not have information on Bills other than those relating to my Department but these could be discussed on the Order of Business. The Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is dealing with the register and trying to co-ordinate work on the issue. I am not sure what stage it has reached.

We have set out the A list for this session, which runs until the start of the next session and, as always, covers the entire period. We have published a number of those Bills and they can be dealt with on the Order of Business, as necessary. We have published 147 Bills and enacted 148 vital Acts but, on this, I intend to deal with my particular areas of legislation.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Is it the Taoiseach's intention to hold a referendum during this session or, indeed, the remaining lifetime of the Government?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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No, I do not have any proposed legislation.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Is that the same as saying that the Taoiseach has no plans for a referendum in the lifetime of the Government?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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Not over the next year.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Given that the current Dáil has, at most, some 12 months remaining, will the Taoiseach indicate the methodology for prioritising legislation? Given the chaos and crisis of the past fortnight and the need to protect children and update the law on sexual offences, will the Government prioritise this area in the immediate future?

How can the Taoiseach explain the fact that we are meeting today and tomorrow, even though nothing on the schedule of business addresses the real and necessary substantive debate that must ensue from last Friday's special sitting? In terms of making priorities, does he not accept that this is an essential issue for us to address and that leadership must be given by the Government, not only in terms of debate on this floor but also with regard to the wider debate and public consultation that must take place to guarantee the best legislation to properly address every situation that could potentially arise in this difficult and complex area?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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In dealing with my own Department, I have no such legislation. Obviously, there are complex and important issues and we should deal with them within the context of the all-party group as soon as possible.

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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With regard to the legislation we are updating, the Taoiseach referred to the statute law revision (pre-union) Bill. Given our experience over the past fortnight with the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 1935, does he see a need, as I do, to evaluate legislation enacted prior to 1937 in certain cases that may fall foul of the Constitution? Is there a plan with regard to legislation, given that he already referred to redundant legislation dating from prior to 1801? Can he indicate whether a review is being conducted in light of the lessons that have hopefully been learned from the past fortnight's debates and controversy?

In response to the subject matter of the past fortnight, will the Taoiseach say whether the referendum on the Constitution sought by the Children's Rights Alliance is on the Government's agenda? Will he comment on the legislation that might flow from that, the measures on vetting services for people working with children, which have been mentioned by Deputy Kenny to some extent, and the delays in assessment for psychiatric treatment and counselling for child victims of sexual assault, which range from six to nine months on average? Will he also comment on the issues I raised earlier on the Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland report and the residential centre in Dublin funded by the HSE, where, according to newspaper reports, 250 children in care have gone missing? Are those matters the subjects of legislation and a constitutional referendum?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The White Paper on Better Regulation, published two and a half years ago, includes a commitment to carry out an analysis of all the pre-1922 legislation. The first part of that project was completed with the enactment of the Statute Law Revision (Pre-1922) Act 2005, which was finalised last December. The first part of that would have dealt with much of the legislation Deputy Sargent mentioned, which would have been there before 1937. The statute law revision (pre-union) Bill represents the second phase of that and will involve an analysis of all the legislation dating from before 1 January 1801, when an Act of Union came into operation, to decide what should be retained or appealed as appropriate.

The Bill states by means of a white list all the pre-1801 statutes that are to be retained because they are still in use. The white list refers to approximately 300 statutes, while all the others from that period, that is approximately 2,300, will be repealed and for convenience these will be listed in a separate Schedule to the Bill. The public consultation process on the application of the Bill was completed approximately a month ago and the final decision on the number of statutes to be retained or repealed will be taken following submissions from that public consultation process. It will be the biggest repealing measure in the history of the State, repealing almost as many statutes as the total number of Acts enacted since 1922.

In due course other statutes will have to be repealed but that will take time. The work for the next year will be on the 2,300 statutes. It is a phased period of work set out over the past few years and for the next few years. This work will continue in the coming years until we have a modern Statute Book for legislation and statutory instruments. That is possible because of the work that has been going on for the past decade or so. We will get that into good order in probably the next five years but it is a big task and the number of people working on it is small. The personnel are steadily clearing and sorting our legislative base.

The Law Reform Commission has agreed to undertake the restatement project. Once this is up to date an Act should be restated by amending legislation. That will be guided by a steering committee that will comprise representatives of my Department, the Office of the Attorney General, the Law Reform Commission and other Departments. They will be requested to attend the committee from time to time as the work is relevant to their office. The heads of the Bill were approved by the Government a few months ago. My Department and the Office of the Attorney General arranged a public consultation process and that process has concluded. The Bill will be ready for the House in the autumn.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Will the Taoiseach clarify whether his office co-ordinates this extensive process of revision? How does it relate to Dáil Éireann? Is it proposed to do it through each Minister encompassing his or her area of responsibility bringing amending legislation to the Dáil? What is the timetable? It is quite an undertaking in terms of the breadth of the issues covered. This goes back to the mists of the past when one was obliged to sell a horse for a few shillings. When the Taoiseach said he has no plans for a constitutional referendum for the remainder of his time in government, did he mean the Minister for Foreign Affairs was blatantly putting a red herring out on Monday when he advocated that such a course of action would find favour with him in terms of the present and recent controversies?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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Work on the updating of the Statute Book has gone on for almost a decade. The statutes were put on CD-ROM, the statutory instruments were listed, the pre-1922 legislation was dealt with and the Statute Law (Restatement) Act was passed four years ago. The 2,600 Acts are to be dealt with — 2,300 will be amended while 300 will remain and be brought forward by means of the white list. That work will continue for some time. A number of phases have to be dealt with. Since the enactment of the Statute Law (Restatement) Act there have been four restatements in the areas of consumer law, defence, tourist traffic and succession.

On Deputy Joe Higgins's point about how the House is involved, all the legislation is brought before the House. I am keen that there should be more restatements, particularly for Acts that have a wide application and impact on citizens and businesses. In May I announced a two-month consultation process on the restatement programme. The results of that consultation will inform the Government in deciding which Acts will be restated as a priority. The Law Reform Commission will play a role in that it will undertake the restatement project.

The value of restatement is that as we get the legislation up to date, for example, in the case of Bills that are regularly enacted such as the Finance Bill and the Social Welfare Bill, which are introduced every year, the restatement process will automatically update the Act without it having to go through the House each time so that practitioners, students of the law and people who follow this work will have an up-to-date version of the law. This is very important for those people. Under this process no amendments can be made to the law, it is simply restated. Only the House can amend laws. If a particular Bill has been amended half a dozen times, one will be able to access the current Bill without having to go back to all the individual Bills. That will be helpful and useful for people who use legislation regularly.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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One is stuck with the same old legislation. The Taoiseach did not answer my question on the constitutional referendum mentioned by the Minister for Foreign Affairs?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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Unless the Government makes a decision on that——

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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The time for questions has expired.