James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 31:

In page 94, to delete lines 29 to 38.

The amendment concerns section 100 which Fine Gael totally opposed on Committee Stage and again opposes on Report Stage. The section effectively states that any pre-1922 legislation which conflicts with the Bill will no longer have effect. Will the Minister tell the House whether there are any pre-1922 statutes which conflict with the Bill? He previously referred to legislation going back to the 12th and 13th centuries but did not greatly elaborate on this. Group water schemes only came into being in the 1920s and 1930s after the State was founded, and I was not aware that the only system of water supply was the old, traditional well, many of which have become obsolete. The correct approach is to repeal the individual Acts in an up-front way, not in the indirect way proposed in this section of the Bill.