Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

Senator Hayes is aware that the general body of defence legislation has recently been the subject of a published restatement. A comprehensive restatement of the Defence Acts 1954 to 1998 and the Courts Martial Appeals Act 1983 was published some months ago. It is intended that the general body of the Defence Acts should be the subject of critical review and scrutiny in the immediate future with a view to determining if, where and to what extent new legislation might be required, given that the original parent Defence Act 1954 is now 50 years old.

The Bill before the House amends one section of the 1954 Act — section 13 of the Bill amends section 114 of the 1954 Act. Having discussed the matter with the Attorney General, we have been told that another restatement of the Defence Acts could not be justified at this stage on the basis of administrative best practice or the more basic matter of sensible cost efficiency. In any event, the Attorney General has advised us that it would be entirely inappropriate to insert a section in new legislation compelling the undertaking of a restatement exercise within a specific period of time.