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IMEACHTA AN CHOISTE.THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE.Dé hAoine, 13 Samhain, 1959.Friday, 13th November, 1959.1. The Committee met at 4.15 p.m. 2. Members Present. The following members were present:— Senator O’Brien (in the Chair), Senators Carter and Ryan. 3. Report of Committee. The Chairman brought forward a Draft Report which was read as follows:— (i) Paragraphs 1 to 7 inclusive, agreed to. (ii) Paragraph 8. Paragraph read as follows:— “8. Blanket Clauses. Following examination of the Social Welfare (Unemployment Benefit) (Additional Condition) Regulations, 1958 [S.I. No. 233 of 1958], the Select Committee asked the Department of Social Welfare to furnish a memorandum explaining the purport of the following clause in the instrument:— ‘(2) References in these Regulations to the Principal Act or the Act of 1956 or regulations made under the Principal Act or the Principal Act, as amended by the Act of 1956, shall be construed as references to that Act or those regulations as amended or extended or modified by any subsequent enactment or regulations.’ It appears to the Committee, from the Department’s reply (see Appendix V), that none of the provisions in S.I. No. 233 of 1958 depended for qualification on the foregoing clause at the time of the making of the instrument. The purpose of the clause appears to be to ensure that, if any of the regulations or statutes mentioned in the definition clause of the instrument are amended, extended or modified, while the instrument is in force, it will not be necessary to amend the instrument solely for the purpose of bringing the references up to date. The Committee appreciates that a blanket clause of the type cited has the effect of reducing the volume of delegated legislation and it sees no objection to its inclusion in an instrument such as S.I. No. 233 of 1958 which is valid for one year only. It would, however, be concerned if such clauses had the effect of obscuring the purport of regulations in which they appear. The provisions of an instrument may depend for qualification on those of other regulations. If the latter regulations were amended subsequent to the making of the instrument the operation of this kind of blanket clause would make it necessary to have regard to the amendments in construing the instrument. If the amendments were extensive, the Committee would be in favour of revoking the instrument and replacing it by up-to-date regulations. It feels that Government Departments should be guided in this regard by the desire to see that subordinate legislation should be made as comprehensible as possible.” Amendment proposed (Senator Ryan): “In line 32 to delete ‘extensive’ and substitute ‘numerous’.” Amendment agreed to. Paragraph, as amended, agreed to. (iii) Paragraphs 9 and 10 agreed to. Draft Report, as amended, agreed to. Ordered: That the Report be presented to Seanad Éireann. 4. Adjournment. The Committee adjourned at 4.30 p.m. |
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