Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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344. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for an update on progress made under the Statute Law Revision Programme following the enactment of the Statute Law Revision Act 2024; the primary and secondary legislation identified and repealed to date under the programme; to indicate the next tranche of instruments selected for review or repeal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29600/26]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Statute Law Revision Programme is Ireland’s national programme to identify and remove obsolete and spent primary and secondary legislation from our legislative stock. It aims to repeal legislation which, while technically in force, is no longer of relevance due to changes of circumstance and the passage of time.

Most recently, the Statute Law Revision Act 2025 was signed into law by the President on 23 July 2025. The principal purpose of the Act was to repeal spent and obsolete secondary instruments enacted on or after 1 January 1821 and before 1 January 1861. The process leading to the Bill involved a review of more than 40,000 secondary instruments to ascertain whether they were obsolete and should be repealed or whether they should instead be retained. Over 3,000 instruments were repealed as a result of the passing of this particular piece of legislation.

Having gone through a number of administrative changes over an extensive period of time, responsibility for this work is now primarily carried out by the Law Reform Commission with the assistance and guidance of the Office of the Attorney General, while being sponsored by and brought through the legislative stages in the Oireachtas by the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.

The Deputy may be aware that since 1922, and starting with the Local Government (Repeal of Enactments) Act 1950, many thousands of pieces of legislation have been repealed to date. This phase of what is typically now referred to as the 'Statute Law Reform Programme' commenced over 20 years ago and its work has not yet concluded. For a more comprehensive overview of this lengthy and complex body of work, the Deputy may wish to refer to the Law Reform Commission's own website (www.lawreform.ie).

My understanding of the Commission's ongoing work is that while primary laws pre-1922 have been reviewed, secondary legislation has been reviewed up to 1861 only. Research is currently being undertaken by the Commission to determine the status of secondary legislation from between 1861 and 1922. This is expected to deliver a similar level of clarity to that provided for in the Statute Law Reform Act 2025. It is then intended to move to a review of all post-1922 primary and secondary legislation.

I look forward to the conclusion of this important work over the coming years, which will eventually ensure the transparency of all in-force legislation in Ireland.