I fully support the mandate of our newly and duly elected Ceann Comhairle to get a 24th Dáil day sitting in that Chair and to continue to carry on her democratic duties to ensure the functioning of this Dáil Chamber, as is the democratic duty of all of us.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to be bringing the Statute Law Revision Bill 2024 to the House today. The Bill was introduced in the Seanad on 23 October 2024 and it passed Report and Final Stages in that House on 5 March this year. The Statute Law Revision Bill 2024 is the latest in a series of measures that have been enacted to modernise and improve public accessibility of the Statute Book and secondary legislation. It is vital that laws and regulations in Ireland are both fit for …

Revoke.

Before I begin my closing remarks, I would like to thank the Members who participated in this debate. It has been a really informed and thoughtful discussion. Deputy Cathal Crowe mentioned that I was taking copious notes. I will paraphrase some comments. Deputy Farrell said that this body of work has afforded us all a trip down memory lane, and it really has. Deputy Ó Murchú said this was an important piece of legislative housekeeping, which I thought was quite good terminology. Deputy Ó Snodaigh's passion for hist…

I thank the Senator not just for tabling these amendments but for engaging with us so collaboratively over the past week. As I stated on Committee Stage, both my Department and the Law Reform Commission believe that it is legally justifiable to include the 1685 order on the list for retention. However, we acknowledge the concerns that were raised in the House last week and as a result, and on foot of discussions in this House, officials in my Department have engaged with the Genealogical Society of Ireland to get a…

This Bill is rather technical legislation, but it is important and necessary. It represents another step in the journey to clarifying and simplifying the Irish Statute Book. I would like to commend my officials and the Law Reform Commission, who have worked on this. That involved reviewing all primary legislation from 1860 to 1922. We understand this represents the most extensive review of statute law ever undertaken globally. This Bill's enactment will deliver benefits in facilitating the process of public governa…

I thank the Senator. To reiterate, the Office of the Chief Herald was established in 1943 as a mechanism to fold the office into the Irish State. Two separate orders happened to that. That is where it became part of our more modern history as we entered into our Republic. I appreciate where the Senator is coming from in his comments on Schedule 2 and potential revocation. That is something we could look at in a little bit more detail, but to reiterate, if we were to do that here and now, we do not have any legal cl…

Amendments Nos. 2 and 4 are regarding Schedule 1, Part 2 of the Bill. These are technical amendments which remove the instrument known as Smuggling Order 1807 from Schedule 1 of the Statute Law Revision Bill 2024, instruments to be retained. The purpose of this order was to allow for the payment of rewards to soldiers who assisted customs officers in making any seizures of prohibited or uncustomed goods during the Napoleonic Wars. This instrument was originally retained in statute law when we revised it in 2015, an…

These are minor technical amendments about replacing the phrase "Parliament of Parliament" with the correct legal term, "Prorogation of Parliament" throughout Schedule 2. These amendments do not in any way fundamentally change the Bill. They are not amendments to policy in any way. They are technical minor amendments.

This is a minor amendment to rectify a technical error.

These are very minor technical amendments. They are typographical amendments that were recommended by the Law Commission. They do not fundamentally change the Bill in any way or the policy behind the Bill. They are merely technical.

I thank Members for their co-operation and their input into this Bill. The Bill we considered here today proposes the revocation of all statutory and prerogative instruments made before 1 January 1861, except for five instruments, which will be retained. More than 40,000 secondary instruments were reviewed by the Law Reform Commission to ascertain whether they were obsolete or whether they needed to be repealed or retained. That was a huge body of work and I thank everybody involved in that. This Bill is the sevent…

I congratulate everybody who is taking up a seat in the Chamber. In particular, I congratulate those who undertook successful elections to get here and everybody who took their seat in Seanad Éireann for the first time yesterday. It is an immense honour and I wish them every success over the next five years. I also take this opportunity to offer comhghairdeas to you, a Chathaoirligh, on your successful election. I acknowledge all of the contributions made here today. I acknowledge the experiences shared by Members …

I thank the Senator. The expansion in ministerial duties arises from the increasing complexity of policy issues, the challenges associated with managing extensive Government initiatives and the enhanced engagement with stakeholders at all levels both domestically and internationally. It is very important that we ground this discussion in wider societal and economic developments. Based on population estimates from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, the population has grown from 4.4 million people in 2007 to 5.4 mil…

I thank Senator Harmon for this amendment, which I think is very well intentioned. Accountability, transparency and value for money are all elements that we want to make sure we are achieving as we do our work in government. Regarding the Secretary General providing detailed statements of costs, this is already provided for because a lot of this information is publicly available. Information on the salaries of advisers and civilian drivers is publicly available. There will be guidelines for the Thirty-fourth Dáil, …

I do not believe this is anecdotal. It is data-centred evidence coming from the CSO, which I referred to earlier. The CSO is the State agency responsible for gathering information and statistics in Ireland. That is why I believe its data is worth looking at.

I thank the Deputy and I congratulate him for his successful re-election to Dáil Éireann. As he alluded, I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the relevant Minister, Deputy Browne, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins. I am happy to pass on the Deputy's feedback in terms of what he has just said about Uisce Éireann and his ask of that company. The supply of public water and the provision of water services, as acknowledged by the Deputy, are matters for Uisce Éireann. Uisce Éireann has statutory responsib…

The Deputy is right that we need to invest in our water supply. That is crucial and the examples he gave of water shortages and outages really reinforce that. Our water and wastewater systems require substantial and sustained investment over a number of investment cycles to bring them up to the quality and resilience standards required of a modern service, to provide for population growth and to build resilience in the face of climate change. The Department of local government secured record investment for water se…

It will support improved water supplies across Ireland, including in Tipperary and rural Ireland, and it will support a range of programmes delivering improved water services in our rivers, lakes and marine areas. It will make a significant contribution to addressing Ireland's needs. Uisce Éireann, as we both acknowledged, has a dedicated team to deal with representations and I will provide the Deputy's feedback to the two relevant Ministers. I hope he will engage with them on the matter to outline the concerns of …

At the outset I congratulate Deputy Gould on his successful re-election to Dáil Éireann. I thank him for raising this really important issue. As the Deputy has alluded to, I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the relevant Minister, who cannot be here today but has provided me with quite a lot of briefing material on this. That is because it is a hugely important issue. The issue of safe drinking water has both national and local importance, and I fully appreciate the Deputy's concerns for communities affecte…