Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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418. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will commit to funding the statute law revision programme after the enactment of the Statute Law Revision Bill 2016; his views on whether, in the context of Brexit, it is important that Ireland, which may be the only remaining common law country in the EU, delete from its Statute Book unnecessary and archaic laws; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34466/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Statute Law Revision Programme was initiated in 2003. It formerly operated within the auspices of the Office of the Attorney General and is now contained within the Government Reform Unit of my Department. Its purpose is to modernise and simplify the Statute book by removing spent and obsolete pieces of legislation, thereby reducing its size and thus making it more understandable and accessible to those who use it. There has been a particular need for such revision in Ireland because our unique legislative past has left us with a complex stock of legislation, with enactments from the Parliaments of Ireland, England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom as well as our own Oireachtas.

To date, the Oireachtas has passed five Statute Law Revision Acts as follows:

- The Statute Law Revision (Pre-1922) Act 2005, which repealed a selection of pre-1922 statutes;

- The Statute Law Revision Act 2007, which was a comprehensive revision of pre-1922 Public General Acts;

- The Statute Law Revision Act 2009, which revised all Private Acts up to and including 1750 and all Local and Personal Acts up to and including 1850;

- The Statute Law Revision Act 2012, which revised all Private Acts from 1750 to 1922 and all Local and Personal Acts from 1850 to 1922; and

- The Statute Law Revision Act 2015, which revoked Secondary Instruments made before 1 January 1821.

A sixth Statute Law Revision Bill, covering primary legislation enacted between 1922 and 1950, is currently progressing through the Houses.

The progress we have made with the Statute Law Revision Programme has been considerable. To date, over 60,000 pieces of legislation have been either expressly or implicitly repealed under the programme. Collectively this is the most extensive set of repealing measures in the history of the State and the most extensive set of statute law revision measures ever enacted anywhere in the world. I propose, however, in view of the progress made, to pause the Statute Law Revision Programme at this time in order that my Department can progress other priorities.

Common law will continue to constitute the basis of the legal system of Ireland and neither the Statute Law Revision Programme nor Brexit have any bearing on this. Ireland has functioned successfully as a common law country within the EU since it joined in 1973 and I see no reason why this should not continue.