Ban on e-cigarette sales to kids and Limerick mayoral election among upcoming bills 

Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughton has published the Government's legislative agenda for up until the July break of the Dáil, with 19 bills being marked for priority publication and 20 for drafting

Ms Naughton said the summer session of the Dáil will see the 'publication and priority drafting of many important pieces of legislation in areas such as safe access zones, automatic enrolment, windfall gains in the energy sector, gender equality, gender-based violence and housing'. Picture: Damien Storan 

Laws banning the sale of e-cigarettes to children, creating pension auto-enrolment, and paving the way for a Limerick mayoral election are among the Government's legislative priorities before the summer.

Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughton has published the Government's legislative agenda for the months up until the July break of the Dáil, with 19 bills being marked for priority publication and 20 for drafting.

Of those set to be published, the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill will ban the sale of vaping equipment to children, while safe access zones for abortion services will be provided for in the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill. 

Laws will be published establishing an agency with responsibility for coordinating Government actions to tackle Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (DSGBV)  as well as the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Saving System Bill which will give legal standing to the proposed auto-enrolment pensions scheme.

The long-awaited bill to establish a directly-elected mayor of Limerick will also be published, setting out the powers the office will hold. That is some four years after the people of the county voted in favour of it. 

Ms Naughton said the summer session of the Dáil will see the "publication and priority drafting of many important pieces of legislation in areas such as safe access zones, automatic enrolment, windfall gains in the energy sector, gender equality, gender-based violence and housing".

The Government will also publish legislation to agree the wording of a proposed referendum on gender equality. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth recently convened an inter-departmental committee with a view to ultimately agreeing the wording and remove the reference to "women in the home".

The Government is also aiming to draft legislation in 20 areas, including a bill that would ban conversion therapies as well as a bill to overhaul the governance of nursing homes. 

The Department of Housing will also look to publish its bill to allow tenants in rental properties a first right of refusal to purchase a property when it is put forward for sale, which was one of the Government's actions when allowing the ban on no-fault evictions to lapse.