Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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978. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the details of the process through which her Department drafts and produces legislation; if her Department outsources the drafting of legislation; if so, the Bills for which the drafting was outsourced since she took office; and the costs associated with the drafting of each Bill. [14427/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Legislation in the Department of Social Protection is driven mainly by commitments in the Programme for Government.  The legislative programme is also based on other Government policy priorities that seek to ensure that Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration legislation can respond to the evolving needs of society and, in particular, the Department's customers.

Since my appointment as Minister, I have brought two pieces of primary legislation through the Oireachtas - the Social Welfare (Covid-19) (Amendment) Act 2020 which put the Covid-Pandemic Unemployment Payment on a discrete legislative footing and the Social Welfare Act 2020 which implemented Budget 2021 measures announced last October.

Officials from my Department have collaborated closely with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel in the drafting of this legislation.  No drafting was outsourced and consequently there were no such external costs.