Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

These amendments are of a technical nature. Amendment No. 1 inserts a definition of the principal Act into part 2 of the Bill to mean the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005. This definition arises as a consequence of the other amendments that I am proposing in part 2 of the Bill, in respect of the revision of decisions for social welfare payment purposes. As a consequence of amendment No.1, the references to the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 that are contained in the Bill as published, are being replaced with references to the principal Act, and this is provided for in amendment No.5.

In addition, this amendment will also require further consequential amendments to part 3 of the Bill, which deals with amendments to the Pensions Act. Part 3 of the Bill, as published, defines the term "the Principal Act" to mean the Pensions Act 1990, for the purposes of that part. In order to avoid having more than one definition of the principal Act for different parts of the Bill, the references to "the Principal Act" are being replaced with references to the "Act of 1990", which in turn is being defined as the Pensions Act 1990. This is being provided for in amendments Nos. 6, 8, 11, 19, 21, 22 and 23.