Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

If I checked the Official Report, I am sure I would find my contribution to this process in 2007 and 2009. I will probably make the same meandering contribution now. It is an interesting item of legislation and, as the previous speaker said, a major amount of physical work goes into the compilation of the constituent elements of the Bill. There is a lesson here for parliamentary democracy, the law of the land, law and order and the proper running of the State. We now claim to live in a very modern Republic.

The legislative process through the Houses of the Oireachtas and to the President is lengthy. In so-called far less advanced times, parliamentary intervention was a frequent occurrence and hopefully on many occasions it righted wrongs and brought clarification in answer to doubt. These thousands of Acts and orders which have been examined cover the length and breadth of the country and deal with all possible subjects. I note, for example, lists of hundreds of people who had applied and were accepted for naturalisation. The current naturalisation process may be regarded as lengthy yet the process has been on the Statute Book for hundreds of years.

I commend all those involved in the detailed work which is tedious, slow and laborious. This work has updated as much as possible the appropriate laws and will make it easier for all legal practitioners to give the appropriate advice.

As Senator Cullinane noted, there are many problems facing the country and people may ask why so much time and effort has been expended on this project but it is a necessary part of the tidying up process which is now complete. A total of 22,885 statutes were analysed, 3,000 are under consideration here and presumably the other statutes are not relevant or cannot be acted upon. This progress in bringing the Statute Book up to date is welcome and there will be no political division. The history and politics buffs such as the Minister of State will find a great amount of fascinating material contained within the Bill and of interest to every townland and parish in the country. It could serve as bed-time reading for people who are so minded. I commend the Minister of State and his officials and all those involved in the project for a job well done which will provide the clarification and certainty in areas where there might have been doubt.