Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senators who contributed to the debate now and on the last occasion. I also thank them for acknowledging the hard work of the officials involved. I merely present the matter as a fait accompli, but like Members, I found it all an interesting exercise. In politics, we never cease to learn, and this matter has involved a great learning process with which we are all involved. Mr. A. G. Donaldson has moved from his position in the statute law revision unit and the person in charge of the team which has done all the work in this area is Ms Fiona Carroll. I thank her and her team.

This is a fascinating area of legislation which I am sure we will revisit. As Senator O'Rourke said, the work involved is important. It will probably not get any headlines, but we are not always looking for headlines and must get on with our work regardless. I remind the House that people like Senator O'Rourke, when she was a Minister, would have been very involved in such work. She was a Minister in the labour area, the same area in which I was involved, working on the process of consolidation of legislation. Much unsung work is being done in the area by Ministers and Departments. The health and safety area provides a good example, as does the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 1993.

Consolidation means the process whereby the Oireachtas passes an Act which collects all the relevant legislation in a single Act. It is vital work but often unrecognised. There is also the process of restatement, when Dáil debate is not required, which knits together legislation which merely requires to be laid before the House for 21 days before it becomes law. Clearly that is a faster option. Between consolidation and restatement, a lot of good work is going on in the background in various Departments. Senator Brian Hayes is right to say it is important that the Department of the Taoiseach and the Office of the Attorney General drive this process in which we are involved and provide for better regulation.

It is clear that much good work in the area has also been done in the UK, and we can learn from that. I thank the Senators for their contributions to the debate. It has been relatively short, but that does not suggest in any way that the work we are doing is not of great importance.