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Restatements

Background Information

Our legal system is a complex mix of legislation enacted by the different Parliaments that have exercised power in this jurisdiction combined with the Common Law (written and unwritten body of law handed down over the generations), Constitutional law, International law and the Law of the European Union.

Our legislation also includes laws enacted prior to 1922 and since the coming into force of the 1937 Constitution. Legislation on any particular topic may be spread across a series of Acts, each amending its predecessor. To complicate matters further, legislation may be primary or secondary. A reader in search of a rule of law frequently has to consult a number of sources and mentally consolidate them into a coherent readable format.This is a time consuming and difficult process due to the fact that there is no easy way of identifying whether a law has been amended since its enactment or is in operation at any given time, other than by consulting the Chronological Tables.

The Statute Law (Restatement) Act 2002 (No. 33 of 2002) enables the Attorney General to make available up to date versions of Acts of the Oireachtas in a readable form. These versions, known as Restatements, do not alter the substance of the law in any way but instead present the text of a particular Act as it has been amended since enactment. A Restatement does not require parliamentary scrutiny but can be relied on in Court. The policy and procedure of Restatement falls within the Government Agenda on Regulatory Reform with the objective of making legislation more user friendly and accessible. Further information on the policy and process is provided in the relevant documents below.

Section 8 of the Act requires the texts to be laid for 21 days before both Houses of the Oireachtas after being certified by the Attorney General before they are made publicly available on this website. To date, four Restatements have been certified and laid before the Houses. See the list of Restatements below.

Relevant Documents

The following documents explain the approach taken prior to the transfer of the Restatement function to the Law Reform Commission

List of Restatements