Speech by the Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern T.D. at the publication of the Statute Law Revision Bill 2007, in Werburgh Street Church, Dublin 8, on Tuesday 9 January 2007 at 5.30pm
Speech by the Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern T.D. at the publication of the Statute Law Revision Bill 2007, in Werburgh Street Church, Dublin 8, on Tuesday 9 January 2007 at 5.30pm
Introduction
Thank you all for joining me here in this beautiful and historic Church of St. Werburgh. I am very grateful to Archdeacon Pierpoint and the other authorities here in St Werburgh’s for the opportunity to make this announcement at this location, which is significant to us for a number of reasons which I will explain shortly.
I am today transmitting to the Oireachtas the Statute Law Revision Bill 2007. This is one of the most comprehensive pieces of statute law revision ever attempted in this State. It will repeal 3,200 laws which were enacted prior to Ireland achieving independence in 1922.
This Bill is one element in a project I initiated a number of years ago. My objective is to entirely modernise the Irish statute book by repealing all the legislation enacted prior to Irish independence. These laws were passed by various parliaments sitting in Ireland and Britain from which the vast majority of the population were excluded. Most were passed during an era when women were not even allowed to vote, much less participate in parliament. Many of these laws reflect prejudices which are not acceptable today – prejudices against foreigners, certain religions, women and minority groups.
Many of these laws are written in language that is obscure and published in books that are out of print. This means that Irish people are theoretically bound by laws which they cannot find and – if they could find them – could not be expected to understand. This is simply unacceptable in the modern era.
It is also unacceptable that there is such uncertainty about exactly what laws actually apply to us today. There has never before been a proper survey of exactly which laws from the various Parliaments sitting in Westminster were applied to this part of Ireland. Even skilled legal experts disagree about the extent to which some British laws apply to Ireland.
I take a simple view about legislation: people should know the laws which bind them, and that is simply not possible while so many ancient and obscure laws remain on our statute book.
Context: St Werburgh’s and Lord Edward Fitzgerald
I believe that St Werburgh’s Church is an excellent location to highlight some of the main elements of this Bill, as this Church is so closely connected with many of the historical events which led to – or arose from – the old laws we are now repealing. Foremost in my mind is the fact that the crypt of this Church contains the remains of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, one of the leaders of the United Irishmen. He was a part of a movement which strove to set aside the sectarian divisions which have blighted so much of Irish history and to lead us toward a modern republic.
Fitzgerald’s biographer, Stella Tillyard, wrote of him:
"Like Wolfe Tone and others in the Society of United Irishmen, Edward Fitzgerald demanded an Irish republic independent of Britain. The republic he wanted was an inclusive one, based on an Enlightenment commitment to rights. It was a republic that would be tolerant, ecumenical and democratic."
Edward Fitzgerald was wounded in the course of being captured just prior to the 1798 rebellion and later died of his wounds. He was buried here and – ironically – so too was the man who shot him, Major Sirr. The Irish Parliament, of which he had been a member, enacted legislation after Fitzgerald’s death which declared him to be a traitor. The effect of this law was to forfeit his property so that his family could inherit nothing. That legislation has remained on our statute books to this day.
The pluralist republic to which Edward Fitzgerald aspired did not, sadly, come about in 1798. But I think it is fitting that in a modern Ireland – an Ireland in which we can strive to achieve that pluralist vision – we can set right some of the wrongs done in the past. The Bill which I am transmitting to the Oireachtas will repeal the Act of Attainder which deemed him to be a traitor, along with many other similar acts from different periods in Irish history.
Content of Bill
The structure of this Bill is entirely new. Most statute law revision measures work by merely repealing lists of laws. But that is not sufficient to meet the need I mentioned earlier – the need to know exactly what laws continue to apply in Ireland. Therefore what this Bill does is to list the laws which will continue to apply, and repeal the rest. About 1,350 laws are included in the “white list” of acts being retained, while 3,200 acts are in the “black list” of those repealed – meaning that this Bill will repeal more than 70% of the pre-Independence laws currently on our statute book.
Some of the laws which are being retained provide a window to past times, as well as being of continuing relevance to some extent. For example, we have retained in the white list many laws which relate to the control of religious property. Among these is a law of 1478 which confers certain rights on the proctors of this church, St Werburgh’s, to be granted certain lands for the upkeep to the parish and that these rights are never to be interfered with by “the king, his heirs, officers or ministers”. It is a testament to the complexity of Irish land law that this 500 year old statute might still have some legal effect!
Next steps
1The laws which are preserved in the “white list” are laws which have – or may have – some continuing relevance in Ireland. They contain provisions which may need to be replaced by modern legislation before they can be repealed. I want to emphasise that these 1,350 acts will be repealed in due course by different legislation. For example, my colleague the Tánaiste is currently bringing a Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill through the Oireachtas which will repeal 130 of these Acts, and further planned Reforms will repeal even greater numbers in early course.
This Bill is only one step in a process which I hope to complete over the next number of years – provided I get the permission of the people in the election which will be held this coming summer!
The Government has also agreed with my proposal to follow this Bill up with reforms in other areas of legislation, such as post-Independence statutes and secondary legislation. My ultimate objective is to provide for the Irish people a unified legislative code which is coherent, accessible and relevant. This would be a code which possesses the democratic credentials which we are all entitled to expect from the laws which bind us. I wish to see this code contain only laws passed by our own elected Oireachtas, or adopted by us as part of a community of equal nations in Europe.
Thanks
Very many people have worked hard to produce this Bill. I would like to sincerely thank all of the officials in my own department and in the Office of the Attorney General who have worked hard over the past number of years, together with the outside experts who have provided absolutely invaluable assistance. I also want to thank the very many officials across all government departments, local authorities and state agencies who have provided assistance and guidance in the often thankless task of assessing whether Acts are of continuing modern relevance. Many outside bodies were also very generous with their time, and I would like to thank them – and in particular the Church of Ireland authorities – for their assistance.
What remains for us now to do is to bring this Bill before the Oireachtas. All parties in the Dáil and Seanad have been supportive of this project in the past, and I am sure this will continue to be the case. I hope to see this Bill enacted in the coming months so that, within the lifetime of the current Dáil, we will have taken an enormous step on the road towards providing the Irish people with a statute book worthy of the kind of pluralist republic in which Lord Edward Fitzgerald and his compatriots would have taken pride.
Thank you.
ENDS