¹ Halsbury's Laws of England Vol 44 (1995) (London) para 1225.Google Scholar

² Strictly speaking there is no statute book as such but it is easier to speak of a statute book than list all the different sources that make up Irish statute law.Google Scholar

³ Statutes and statutory instruments from 1922 to 1998 are available on a CD ROM.Google Scholar

⁴ E.g. Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993, will be updated in 2003.Google Scholar

⁵ The position compares unfavorably with Canada and Australia where ate a Federal and State level laws are revised regularly making their statute books at Federal and State level very accessible.Google Scholar

⁶ 124 Dail Debates cols 1134 - 1135 (6 March 1951).Google Scholar

⁷ Law Reform Commission Act, 1975 (No. 3 of 1975).Google Scholar

⁸ Statute Law Revision Act, 1983 (No. 11 of 1983).Google Scholar

⁹ The Title of the Unit was changed by the Director with the approval of the Management Advisory Committee to the Statute Law Revision Unit on the basis that the term revision encompassed consolidation.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Edward Donelan, M.A., Dip. Eur. Law, Dip. Arb., barrister-at-law.Google Scholar

¹¹ The Unit was established in accordance with Government Decision S.29588E of 24 February, 1998, which accepted the recommendations for a law revision and consolidation unit as set out in the Report of the Review Group on the Law Offices of the State.Google Scholar

¹² The requirement to prepare some form of cost benefit analysis for these projects is unusual.Google Scholar

¹³ On his appointment the Director had consultations with most of the Secretary Generals General's of Departments, heads of Offices and Assistant Secretaries.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Despite the establishment of the Unit in the period February 1999 and March 2000 no resources were allocated to the Unit apart from the assignment of the Director and a law graduate on contract who was contracted only to keep the Chronological Tables to the Statutes and Statutory Instruments up to date. At the time of writing this situation is set to improve but it will still only be capable of undertaking a modest programme.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Discussions between Director and Secretaries General, 1999/2000.Google Scholar

¹⁶ In 1994 the then Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Albert Reynolds announced a programme of modernizing the civil service known as the Strategic Management Initiative.Google Scholar

¹⁷ It was eventually published in 1999.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Announced by the Taoiseach as Government policy and published I July, 1999.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Announced by the Taoiseach and published in July 1999.Google Scholar

²⁰ See O.E.C.D. Report on Regulatory Reform June 1997.Google Scholar

²¹ See FreerMarketsMore Rules: Regulatory Reform in Advanced Industrial Countries, Vogel, S, Cornell (Ithaca and London) (1996).Google Scholar

²² Vogel. S Freer Markets, More Rules Regulatory Reformin Advanced Industrial Countries, Cornell, 1996.Google Scholar

²³ O.E.C.D. report on Regulatory Reform Vol 1: Sectoral Studies and Vol 2: Thematicv Studies O.E.C.D. (1997).Google Scholar

²⁴ Countries reviewed include United States, Mexico, Spain, Japan, Korea, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Ireland (2000).Google Scholar

²⁵ Ibid., p. 7.Google Scholar

²⁶ For example, see Reprints Act, 1972 (New South Wales).Google Scholar

²⁷ See debates 15th and 20th June, 2000.Google Scholar

²⁸ Enactments means Acts or instruments made under an enactment.Google Scholar

²⁹ The Preparation of Legislation (Report of a Committee Appointed by the Lord President of the Council Cmnd 6053 “the Renton Report.” Paragraph 14.15.Google Scholar

³⁰ Driedger on the Construction of Statutes 3rd ed Sullivan R. (Toronto) (1994).Google Scholar

³¹ The Bill had to be abandoned before it was completed due to lack of resources.Google Scholar

³² This is easily done in British Columbia because statute law is revised completely every decade. The problem is that statute law has never been revised in Ireland.Google Scholar

³³ Statute Revision Act [RSBC 1996] Chapter 440.Google Scholar

³⁴ The case for codification was well put by Cutcheon, J.P Mc and Quinn, Katie in Modifying Criminal Law in Ireland, Statute Law Review, Vol. 19, No. 3 P. 131, 1998.Google Scholar

³⁵ Discussions on codification included a paper on the codification of Canon law that took ten years but no easy answers were presented and without a political imperative codification will remain a pipe dream.Google Scholar

³⁶ Faut il Codifier le droit. Revue Francaise d'Administration Publiqu No 82 June 1997.Google Scholar