Committee Reports > List of Committees > Seanad > 1959 > Select Committee on Statutory Instruments > Report No. 02 - Statutory Instruments [7]

APPENDIX VI.

Maternity and Child Health Services (Amendment) Regulations, 1958 (S. I. No. 265 of 1958), General Institutional and Specialist Services (Amendment), Regulations, 1958 (S. I. No. 266 of 1958). Mental Treatment (Amendment) Regulations, 1958 (S. I. No. 267 of 1958). Dublin Public Assistance Authorities (Health Functions) Order, 1958 (S. I. No. 268 of 1958), South Cork Board of Public Assistance (Health Functions) Order, 1958 (S. I. No. 269 of 1958). Waterford Board of Public Assistance (Health Functions) Order, 1958 (S. I. No. 270 of 1958).

An Rúnaí,

An Roinn Sláinte.

I am directed by the Select Committee on Statutory Instruments to state that it has had under consideration the Maternity and Child Health Services (Amendment) Regulations, 1958 [S.I. No. 265 of 1958], General Institutional and Specialist Services (Amendment) Regulations, 1958 [S. I. No. 266 of 1958], Mental Treatment (Amendment) Regulations, 1958 [S.I. No. 267 of 1958], Dublin Public Assistance Authorities (Health Functions) Order, 1958 [S.I. No. 268 of 1958], South Cork Board of Public Assistance (Health Functions) Order, 1958 [S.I. No. 269 of 1958], and Waterford Board of Public Assistance (Health Functions) Order, 1958 [S.I. No. 270 of 1958]. The Committee wishes me to state that these instruments provide examples of the type of legislation by reference which it had in mind when making the recommendation contained in paragraph 12 of its report dated 11th July, 1958 [T.162—Pr. 4685].

The Committee believes that instruments such as those which are mentioned above which deal with the administration of the health services are of considerable public importance and that they should, if at all possible, be presented in a form which is easily intelligible. It should be glad, therefore, to be furnished with a memorandum giving the view of your Department on the form of the instruments referred to and on the possibility of having regulations of this kind made available in a codified form.

Cléireach an Rogha-Choiste.

23 Feabhra, 1959.

8 Aibreán, 1959.

Cléireach an Rogha-Choiste

um Ionstraimí Reachtúla.

1. I am directed by the Minister for Health to refer to your minute of 23 Feabhra, 1959, regarding certain statutory instruments made by the Minister on the occasion of the commencement of the Health and Mental Treatment (Amendment) Act, 1958, and to state that the Minister agrees that it is preferable that the regulations on each subject should be contained in a single instrument and that he is in favour of the consolidation when appropriate of the provisions in question.

2. The Minister wishes me, however, to state that the occasion presented in December did not appear to him to be an appropriate one for the undertaking of a major consolidation and re-enactment of these provisions, for the following reasons:

(i) The Health and Mental Treatment (Amendment) Bill did not become law until 23rd December. It was a practical necessity that this new Act and the Social Welfare (Amendment) Act, 1958 should come into operation on the same date and it was highly desirable for the purposes of the latter Act that this date be 29th December, 1958. The execution of the new regulations and orders was thus a matter of extreme urgency and, leaving other considerations aside, it would have been practically impossible in view of the intervention of the Christmas holidays to have had consolidated regulations and orders prepared, executed and published before the date on which they were to come into operation;

(ii) The changes made in the regulations and orders in question by the amending instruments were not in themselves extensive, consisting as they did merely of adaptations which were consequential on the enactment of the new legislation in December. Persons concerned with the operation of the services would have no difficulty in carrying the changes which were made into their copies of the original regulations. For such persons there are obvious advantages in the form of the instruments as they were made. The cost of copies of the amending regulations was considerably less than the cost of new and complete consolidated sets and there was the further advantage—important in particular in this case where urgency was involved—that those concerned with the regulations could immediately see the scope of the changes made and did not need to study a complete new set of regulations.

3. The decision to be taken by the Minister as to whether to replace or amend regulations when a change in them is called for is governed by a number of factors. The ideal is to have the regulations on each subject embodied in a single statutory instrument, but there are factors which weigh against the achievement, on all occasions, of this ideal. Obviously, it is undesirable that each amendment of a bulky set of regulations should involve the expense of reprinting the entire set, particularly if further minor changes can be expected. Such changes are inevitable in the formative years of new or re-organised services, such as those dealt with in the instruments referred to in your minute, and the Minister feels that in existing circumstances the consolidation of these regulations should not be undertaken until there is a reasonable prospect that the consolidating regulations will not have to undergo further amendment in the near future.