Almost 300 obsolete Irish laws to be repealed

Almost 300 pieces of obsolete legislation are set to be revoked by the Government, including the WWII-era Emergency Powers Act 1939.

Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin said the abolition of laws, many introduced during the Civil War and the outbreak of World War II, would allow for “future legislative growth”.

The Statute Law Revisions Bill 2016 will remove 294 laws passed by the Oireachtas between 1922-50.

It includes crisis laws introduced at the height of the Civil War in 1923 to allow the imposition of the death penalty or penal servitude for anyone found guilty of an armed revolt against the government.

Mr Howlin said: “Statute law revision is the process by which spent or obsolete legislation is removed from the statute book. The legislation of this period shows a nation in its infancy developing its own legislative framework.

“It is appropriate that we are removing some of the earliest legislation of the Oireachtas that has long since served its purpose, and in doing so we pave the way for future legislative growth.”