Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 130: To ask the Taoiseach his views on whether in the interests of practicality and value for money, the focus of the statute law revision project should be shifted from local, personal and private acts and charters to post 1922 Acts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36009/07]

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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Significant progress has been made in the area of statute law revision and reform in recent years. The ultimate goal is to create a modern and streamlined Irish Statute Book which is more accessible to the citizen and to business. The Statute Law Revision Act, 2007 provided for the repeal of 3,225 obsolete Acts which predated Irish independence. The Act builds on the Statute Law Revision Act, 2005 under which more than 200 obsolete acts were repealed. The current phase of the Statute Law Revision Project, focusing on Local, Personal and Private Acts, will see the completion of analysis of all pre-1922 primary legislation and the availability of a complete list of such legislation which remains in force.

The focus to date of the Statute Law Revision Project on pre-1922 legislation has been a necessary first step in creating a modern Statute Book, but it is not an end in itself. This phase has cleared away the deadwood of thousands of redundant and obsolete Acts that were clogging the Statute Book.

The next phase of the project will allow us to focus on the remaining extant pre-1922 legislation and post-1922 legislation and to see clearly what now needs to be repealed and re-enacted in modern, consolidated form. Good progress has already been made in this regard, with consolidation underway in key policy areas such as Land Law and Conveyancing; Liquor Licensing; Companies Law and Financial Services. In addition, the Law Reform Commission is undertaking a programme of Statute Law Restatement, which will serve to make post-1922 legislation more accessible by providing, in the case of selected Acts, a single up-to-date text including all amendments. This process of Restatement will also facilitate future consolidation and modernisation of legislation.

I agree that the focus of future efforts should be on post-1922 legislation and particularly on the consolidation and modernisation of legislation in key areas. It is a matter for each Minister to bring forward proposals in relation to legislation under his or her aegis and I strongly support further efforts in this regard.