LEGISLATION:THE CALLING of an election in March means that a large number of Bills before the Oireachtas will not now be enacted.
Only the Finance Bill is now certain to go through all stages in the Oireachtas, although Green Party deputies insist some of the Bills they are sponsoring will also be passed.
The Dáil will have to be dissolved in the weeks ending February 11th or 18th in order to fit into the schedule required for an election on March 11th. That means only three or four weeks are available to debate and pass legislation before the current Dáil reaches the end of its life.
Last week, the Government set out an ambitious target of enacting 21 Bills before the dissolution of the Dáil, including five pieces of legislation that had yet to be published. Government Chief Whip John Curran said a further Bill, possibly to allow the holding of a referendum on children’s rights, might be added to this list.
With the election date now set, it seems likely many of these Bills will fail to be enacted by the current Oireachtas.Numerous other Bills which were not prioritised, some introduced up to five years ago, will also fall by the wayside.
Dozens of Private Members’ Bills introduced by Opposition TDs over the past five years face the same fate, though the vast majority never stood a chance of passing.
Apart from the Finance Bill, which gives effect to the Budget, three other Budget-related Bills will be prioritised: the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme) Bill; the Betting (Amendment) Bill; and the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill.
Then there are the four Bills pushed by the Green Party: the Climate Change Response Bill; the Dublin Mayoral Bill; the Electoral Bill on Corporate Donations; and the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2011, which deals with waste levies.
Most of these are encountering significant opposition and are unlikely to cross the line in the current political climate. The Government is unlikely to expose itself to the risk of losing Dáil votes on legislation that won’t be enacted anyway before its dissolution.
A further 10 Bills, already before both Houses, are unlikely to be enacted in the current term. They include legislation on vagrancy, greyhound welfare and multi-unit developments.
The Finance Act will be debated next Tuesday and Wednesday and, time permitting, will be followed by childcare legislation.