Govt to repeal 3,200 pre-independence laws

More than 3,000 laws passed before the Republic of Ireland achieved independence are being repealed, the Government revealed tonight.

The blacklist of obsolete Acts, enacted between 1066 and 1922, was drawn up by Attorney General Rory Brady, but a select few have been kept on white-list and will remain on the Statute books.

Among the 3,200 laws repealed are the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which provided that the authority of the British parliament over Ireland remained undiminished.

Another is the Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922, which gave the 1921 Treaty – when Ireland achieved independence – the force of law.

These measures have become obsolete but have never been formally repealed.

Launching the Bill, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said: “This Bill is the single biggest repealing measure in the State’s history, and will remove almost as many laws from the statute book as have been enacted in the years since independence.

“It is important that we keep our statute book up to date and relevant and that we clear from the statute book any laws which are obsolete, as well as identifying those which are still of relevance.”

Staff in the Attorney General’s office checked 26,371 laws enacted before 1922, the first comprehensive examination of all statutes in the history of the state.

Some 1,350 will be retained for the time being. This white-list contains laws found to have These have been found to have some degree of modern relevance, and must be replaced with modern laws before they can be repealed.

Within the next number of years, the Government intends for all pre-independence legislation to be repealed and replaced with modern laws.