Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I welcome this Bill. The Labour Party has long advocated that we update the Statute Book. It is unsatisfactory that this independent republic still relies on laws passed by, for example, Henry VIII. The Labour Party favours the establishment of a Statute Book in which all the pre-1922 legislation is repealed. This Bill is a good start.

The Minister indicated that more Acts might be added to the Schedule on Committee Stage. While we are generally critical of additions being made to legislation on that Stage, we would welcome the addition of Acts to the Schedule of this Bill. The Minister should not be restricted in amending the Bill in detail in that regard. We encourage him to do so. It could also be done on Report Stage or even in the Dáil. It is important that we take this opportunity to remove as much dead wood as possible.

The Government should go beyond this Bill and undertake comprehensive statute law revision. The next step must be to repeal all pre-1922 statutes except those currently in use. There should be a comprehensive programme of repeal and re-enactment in a modern form. The Minister should also examine the local, personal and private Acts, the body of pre-1922 statutory instruments and post-1922 legislation with a view to conducting a complete review of the Statute Book. The Labour Party favours a Scandinavian type code of law where all positive law is codified into a single volume, or volumes, which is updated on an annual basis. I suspect that a number of volumes would be required but we should aim for that ultimate goal.

I have a question about section 2(2). It states: "Where any enactment not repealed by this Act has been confirmed, revived or perpetuated by a repealed enactment, such confirmation, reviver or perpetuation by this Act is not affected by the repeal." Should this not state "such confirmation, reviver or perpetuation by the repealed enactment"? Perhaps this legislation effects the confirmation, reviver or perpetuation but I am not sure. Is that the correct way to phrase the provision?

The Labour Party supports the Bill and I acknowledge the work of the Minister, his staff and the Attorney General on its preparation. We hope that work will continue.