A GUIDE TO HOW LAWS ARE MADE IN IRELAND

Compiled by the Retail Excellence Public Affairs Team | October 2018 www.retailexcellence.ie HOW LAWS ARE MADE AN OVERVIEW

The power to make new laws is the sole responsibility of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Dáil Éireann has the primary role in relation to legislation as it is directly elected by the people.

All proposed new laws are introduced into the Oireachtas as Bills. When the Government wants to propose a law, the Cabinet approves the Bill and the relevant Minister brings it before the Oireachtas.

Opposition parties or Members can also bring forward their own Bills, usually during Private Members’ time.

Once a Bill is signed into law by the President, it becomes an Act and is added to the Statute Book. The Oireachtas passes approximately 40 Acts each year.

Before a Bill can be enacted, it must be passed by both the Dáil and the Seanad. In order to be passed, a Bill must go through several distinct Stages in each House.

A Bill that is initiated by a TD is debated first in the Dáil. If the Dáil passes the Bill, it is then debated in the Seanad. A Bill initiated by a Senator is debated first in the Seanad and then in the Dáil. Only when both Houses have passed a Bill can the President sign it into law.

If the Dáil passes a Bill, the Seanad can delay its becoming law, not stop it. If the Seanad votes not to pass a Bill, the Bill will lapse after 180 days. However, the Dáil has the power, within those 180 days, to pass a resolution declaring that the Bill is deemed to have been passed by both Houses.

Page 1 HOW LAWS ARE MADE IN IRELAND A TIMELINE

1 FIRST STAGE THE BILL IS INITIATED IN DÁIL OR SEANAD ÉIREANN

SECOND STAGE 2 THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE BILL ARE DEBATED.

THIRD STAGE – COMMITTEE 3 THE BILL IS EXAMINED SECTION BY SECTION AND AMENDMENTS MAY BE MADE.

FOURTH STAGE - REPORT 4 AMENDMENTS ARISING OUT OF COMMITTEE STAGE ARE CONSIDERED.

FIFTH STAGE – FINAL STAGE 5 THE BILL IS PASSED BY THE HOUSE.

ENACTMENT 6 THE BILL IS SIGNED INTO LAW BY THE PRESIDENT.

Page 2 HOW LAWS ARE MADE

F IRST STAGE The Bill is initiated

In general, Bills may be initiated in either the Dáil or the Seanad. However, money Bills and Bills to amend the Constitution must be initiated in the Dáil while private Bills can be initiated only in the Seanad.

There are two ways for Members to initiate a Bill. In general, a Government Member may present a Bill, whereas an Opposition Member must seek leave to introduce a Bill. A Bill introduced by an Opposition Member is known as a Private Members' Bill (PMB) and debates on it must take place during Private Members' time.

When a Bill is presented, provided it complies with Standing Orders, it is automatically added to the Order Paper and it proceeds to Second Stage. STANDING ORDERS When a Member seeks leave to introduce a Private THE RULES WHICH GOVERN THE WORK OF Members' Bill, the House may or may not grant leave. If THE DÁIL. THE DÁIL’S leave is granted, the Bill is added to the Order Paper STANDING ORDERS WERE and proceeds to Second Stage. FIRST ADOPTED BY RESOLUTION OF THE In the Dáil, Government Members may present Bills. PROVISIONAL Other Deputies may also present Bills, but must do so PARLIAMENT OF 11 SEPTEMBER 1922. SINCE as a group of seven or more Deputies, and each group THEN, STANDING ORDERS may present only one Bill at a time. In the Seanad, the HAVE BEEN AMENDED Leader of the Seanad may present a Bill on behalf of AND MODIFIED BY THE the Government. Groups of five or more Senators may DÁIL. also present up to three Bills at a time.

In the Dáil, any Member may seek leave to introduce a Bill, while in the Seanad, it takes three Senators to introduce each Bill. There is no limit to the number of Bills a Member may seek leave to introduce.

Good to know....

Bills are written by specialist barristers (parliamentary counsel) based in the Attorney General’s Office.

Because they must be drafted in legally precise language, they can often be difficult for non-experts to understand. There is also normally an Explanatory Memorandum published alongside the Bill. This sets out in non-technical terms what is proposed by the Bill. It can be useful to read both in tandem.

While Explanatory Memorandums are useful guides, it is important to remember that they may highlight the positive elements of a Bill while glossing over possibly contentious sections. Page 3 HOW LAWS ARE MADE

SECOND STAGE The general principles of the Bill are debated

Members are allocated a limited amount of time to make a statement on the law the Bill would create. They may also suggest other provisions they would like to be included in the Bill.

At the end of Second Stage, the House may, or may not, agree to allow the Bill to proceed to Committee Stage. A Member may call for a division on the question by saying “Vótáil”.

THIRD STAGE Committee Stage

Committee Stage is a detailed examination of each section of the Bill and an opportunity for Government and Opposition Members to make changes to the text.

Committee Stage in the Dáil is usually taken in an Oireachtas select committee (see Page 9 for a list of Oireachtas Committees).

Once each section of the Bill has been agreed to, the Bill is set down for Report Stage.

Before Committee Stage, Members who want to change a Bill may put down amendments, and a list of the amendments is published. During the Committee Stage debate, Members are called on to move each amendment and discuss it with the Minister.

There is no limit to the number of times a Member may speak on an amendment, so Committee Stage can be lengthy. The Minister then says whether he or she accepts the amendment. A Member who disagrees with the Minister’s decision on an amendment may call for a division by saying “Vótáil”.

Page 4 HOW LAWS ARE MADE FOURTH STAGE Amendments arising out of Committee Stage are considered.

Report Stage is the last opportunity for Members to make amendments to the text of a Bill.

Members may not bring forward any new amendments, only amendments which arise from Committee Stage. Unlike Committee Stage, Members may speak only twice on each amendment, and their second contribution is limited to two minutes.

When all the amendments have been dealt with, the Bill is received for final consideration. Fifth Stage may be scheduled for another day, but is usually taken immediately after Fourth Stage. If the Government wants to introduce new amendments on Report Stage, it may do so by recommitting the Bill, which effectively returns the bill to committee stage in respect of individual amendment.

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FIFTH STAGE Final Stage- The Bill is passed by the House

Fifth Stage often follows directly after Report Stage. No amendments may be tabled and there is generally no in-depth discussion of the Bill.

Instead, Members usually make short statements on whether the Bill would constitute good law. Then the House agrees to pass the Bill, and a Member may call a division by saying “Vótáil”.

When a Bill passes Final Stage in the House in which it was initiated, it is sent to the other House. There, it must go through the Stages of debate, beginning on Second Stage.

Any amendments made by the second House may be rejected by the House in which the Bill was initiated. This list of amendments is known as the "cream list".

Therefore, if the second House makes amendments to a Bill, it is returned to the first House, where it goes through some of the Stages of debate again.

Once a Bill has been passed on Fifth Stage by both Houses, and all cream list amendments have been dealt with, the Bill is ready to be enacted.

Page 6 HOW LAWS ARE MADE ENACTMENT The Bill is signed into law by the President

Once a Bill has been passed by the Dáil and Seanad, the President signs it into law. It becomes an Act and is added to the Statute Book.

Some Acts come into force immediately, while others are commenced on a later date by the relevant Minister.

In certain rare circumstances, the President has the power to decline to sign a Bill. The President consults with the Council of State before taking such a decision.

All laws must be compatible with the Constitution. The President may refer a Bill to the Supreme Court to seek a judgment on whether it is constitutional. If the Supreme Court finds that the Bill, or any part of it, is unconstitutional, the President declines to sign the Bill and it is not enacted.

Members of the Dáil and Seanad may petition the President not to sign a Bill on the grounds that it contains a proposal of such national importance that the will of the people should be sought. If a majority of the Seanad and at least one third of the Dáil petition the President not to sign a Bill, the President may agree to the request. The President then declines to sign the Bill until the proposal has been approved by the people in a referendum or by a new Dáil after a general election.

Page 7 HOW LAWS ARE MADE PRIMARY & SECONDARY LEGISLATION Laws, or Acts of the Oireachtas, are called primary legislation. There is another category of laws known as secondary legislation or statutory instruments.

There are five main types of secondary legislation.

Ministerial orders Regulations Rules Bye-laws Schemes

Several hundred pieces of secondary legislation are issued each year. These are typically used to flesh out technical, local or day-to-day matters that arise from the operation of primary legislation.

Statutory instruments are not enacted by the Oireachtas in the same way as Acts, or primary legislation. Instead, the Oireachtas delegates powers in the primary legislation that it passes to allow for secondary legislation.

These powers are usually delegated to a government Minister, a public body or agency, a local authority (a City or County Council), or a regulatory body such as the Revenue Commissioners.

For example, a law on farming could delegate powers to the Minister for Agriculture to make regulations dealing with particular details regarding the spreading of slurry. City and County Councils also pass secondary legislation in the form of bye-laws to regulate local issues to do with parking, parks, beaches and environment.

Unlike Acts, secondary legislation generally goes through the Oireachtas without any debate or discussion. This means that secondary legislation can be passed quickly.

The main drawback of the secondary legislation process is that a large volume of often complex regulation can be introduced without scrutiny by our elected representatives. Also, unlike with Acts, there is generally very little publicity surrounding the implementation of such regulations. This means that the public can remain largely unaware of potentially significant detail in our laws.

However secondary legislation must be consistent with, and based on, the legislation adopted by the Oireachtas. It can be overturned by the courts if found to be in breach of primary legislation.

Page 8 HOW LAWS ARE MADE COMMITTEES OF THE OIREACHTAS 32ND DÁIL / 25TH SEANAD

Oireachtas committees advise the Houses of the Oireachtas on a range of specific areas. Committee members include TDs, Senators or both. Committees receive submissions and presentations from members of the public, interest groups and Government Departments. Their public meetings are broadcast live and recorded and they may publish reports on specific issues. Committees also scrutinise Government expenditure and debate proposed legislation.

Business Committee Committee of Public Accounts Committee of Selection (Seanad Éireann) Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine Committee on Budgetary Oversight Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation Committee on Children and Youth Affairs Committee on Climate Action Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment Committee on Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Committee on Education and Skills Committee on Employment Affairs and Social Protection Committee on European Union Affairs Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence Committee on Health Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government Committee on Justice and Equality Committee on Members’ Interests (Dáil Éireann) Committee on Members’ Interests (Seanad Éireann) Committee on Procedure and Privileges (Seanad Éireann) Committee on Procedure (Dáil Éireann) Committee on Public Petitions Committee on Rural and Community Development Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport Seanad Public Consultation Committee Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU Sub-Committee on Dáil Reform Working Group of Committee Chairmen

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This document was compiled from Information from The Houses of the Oireachtas | www.oireachtas.ie