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Government makes significant progress on legislation programme during Dáil term

Dáil passes 34 bills during term
11 Priority List bills published by Government
8 Priority List bills complete and to be approved by Cabinet

Seán Kyne, Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Department of Taoiseach has said that the Government has made significant progress on its legislation programme during this Dáil term.

Minister Kyne confirmed that during the January – July term of this year the Dáil passed 34 bills on a wide range of matters including laws concerning local government, data sharing, fisheries, parental leave, tenancies, airport regulation, copyright, oversight of the health service as well as industrial relations, among other issues.

Commented Minster Kyne:

During this Dáil term a significant number of bills were passed following a comprehensive process of drafting, debate and scrutiny. The Dáil term included one of the most challenging and significant acts to be drafted and passed by the Oireachtas – the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union Act, commonly known as the Brexit Omnibus Act.

Despite this challenge, the Government, working with other parties and groups, guided 34 bills through the Dáil, demonstrating that the new Dáil procedures and arrangements can work and are working.

We published 11 bills from our Priority List and a further eight are complete and will be considered by the Cabinet by the end of the month.

The bills passed by the Dáil include legislation to:

  • Establish a tribunal to hear cases regarding Cervical Check;
  • Extend parental leave on a phased basis;
  • Set up citizens’ assemblies to consider a directly elected mayor for Dublin and gender equality proposals;
  • Establish a Judicial Council which will introduce training for judges and provide guidelines on matters including personal injuries damages;
  • Prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence;
  • Protect households and families in the private rented accommodation sector and extend the rent pressure zones;
  • Create the National Surplus/Rainy Day Fund to protect our country against exceptional events;
  • Extend the redress scheme for women resident in certain institutions;
  • Increase the number of judges at the Court of Appeal and speed up access to justice;
  • Modernise local government rates for the benefit of local business as well as public services.

Regarding the Official Languages Amendment Bill,

Minister Kyne continued,

good progress has been made on the revision of the drafts of this important bill. As Minister for the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, this bill, which will improve the original Official Languages Act, is a priority of mine and I expect to publish it before the end of the summer.

Finally, I would like to thank the staff of the Chief Whip’s Office, the Department of Taoiseach, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and the Office of the Attorney General for their work over the Dáil term in shaping and progressing legislation which benefits citizens across our country.

The press release can be read in full here