Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

It is important, therefore, that a strong message emanate from the Department of the Taoiseach, through the Office of the Attorney General, that Departments need to take this matter much more seriously. Reading between the lines of what the Minister of State has said, I suspect that the Office of the Attorney General wishes to give that impression.

The Minister of State referred to the question of a practical utility. Has he considered putting a definition in the Bill as to what exactly that utility is? If a matter came before the courts and a barrister used a statute from a previous generation to argue the case, his or her interpretation of its practical utility might differ from the Minister of State's interpretation. Did the Minister of State consider what he means by "practical utility"?

The Bill was published in late 2004 and since then the amount of legislation covered has increased to a great degree. Must we revisit this on a yearly basis? How does the Minister of State propose to do that? Will he introduce a Bill on an annual basis to update the pre-1922 statutes or will he do it on a three-year basis? In just six months, the Minister of State has identified an additional 120 statutes that should be included. If we are trying to get this right, we may need to add additional Acts that become obsolete or impractical.