Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

Section 100 provides that a provision of a pre-1922 statute will no longer have force of law where its application could frustrate the application of this Bill. Given the number, diversity and, in some cases, obscurity of pre-1922 legislation dating back to the middle of the 19th century, it is not possible to identify every individual element of the water services legislative code, despite thorough research by Department officials. Section 100 removes any possibility of remaining legislative provisions on the Statute Book which, if discovered at a later date, could be used to undermine the application of this Bill. Such an action would also undermine the wishes of the Oireachtas to provide up-to-date and appropriate regulations of the provision of water services. The Water Services Bill is intended to be the central and primary legislation for water services. It would be inappropriate if some unknown provision and obscure legislation could be resurrected at a later stage to interfere with this purpose, or attempt to impose 18th or 19th century legal provisions on a 21st century service. The repeal schedule confirms the extent of the efforts, through detailed research by Department officials, to unearth old legislation affecting water services. It is possible that obscure local Acts remain extant despite attempts to trace them. This section is a necessary safety valve to prevent a subsequent unearthing of such an Act being used to derail the Bill.

In accordance with the Government White Paper on Better Regulation, the Attorney General has undertaken a comprehensive review of the stock of legislation which pre-dates the establishment of the State. As a first step, the statute law revision unit in the Office of the Attorney General has carried out a stocktaking exercise to determine how many Acts from the various parliaments that administered Ireland between 1235 and 1922, almost 700 years, remain in force. So far, approximately 500 Acts have been discovered to be still in force from this period. A consultation process with Departments is underway to repeal or incorporate these provisions into the current Statute Book. This will help the Government to modernise pre-Independence laws and make Statute Law more coherent and accessible. Section 100 complements this process and will ensure the Water Services Bill is not undermined pending the completion of this review.

Although thorough research has been carried out, section 100 draws a line in the sand to ensure dormant laws do not affect the future application of the Bill. No other reason, devious or otherwise, is behind it and I recommend it to the House.