Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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2055. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development 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. [14426/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm that the process for drafting and producing legislation in my Department is as follows: 

Government indicates that it will bring forward legislation to deal with a particular issue. This commitment is usually made in, for example, a Programme for Government, Strategy document and or in Debates in the Oireachtas or elsewhere. The process through which this Department drafts and produces primary legislation is:

- Upon the initiation of a Bill my Department officials undertake the preparatory work/research/consultation, including a Regulatory Impact Assessment where necessary, and draft the Heads of the Bill which sets out the key objectives, the chapter headings and the main provisions in each chapter (section).

- The general scheme, or draft heads, of the Bill, undergo scrutiny by an Oireachtas Committee for further consideration providing stakeholders with the opportunity to comment on the overall thrust of the legislation and outline deficiencies and/or gaps and to make submissions to both the Department and Oireachtas committee re same.

- After analysing the feedback from the consultation, Department officials then instruct the Parliamentary Counsel (based in the Office of the Attorney General) who draft the full legal text of the Bill and the Explanatory Memorandum. When the draft Bill is finalised it is then ready to begin its 5 stage passage through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

My Department does not outsource the drafting of legislation.