Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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619. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide, in tabular form, the number, name and date of Bills initiated in his Department that have been subject to the pre-legislative scrutiny procedure in the Oireachtas. [23641/15]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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623. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide, in tabular form, the number, name and date of Bills initiated in his Department since September 2013. [23667/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 619 and 623 together.

Twelve Bills initiated in my Department have been published since September 2013. Information sought by the Deputy on those Bills is set out in the table below.

In regard to pre-legislative scrutiny, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children held hearings on the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill in March to April 2015.

The Health (General Practitioner Service) Bill had been referred for pre-legislative scrutiny in September 2014.

Previously to that, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children held a series of public hearings on the general scheme of the Public Health (Standardised Packaging of Tobacco) Bill, concluding in February 2014.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children also held public hearings on the heads of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill in May 2013. The Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013 (No. 66 of 2013) was published on 18 June 2013. I consider pre-legislative scrutiny an important and integral aspect of the legislative process.