Ireland’s Summer Legislative Programme 2024
The government has published the Summer Legislative Programme 2024 by Government Chief Whip, Minister Hildegarde Naughton T.D. The programme prioritises 53 bills for publication and drafting over the next Dáil session. When discussing the breakdown of publication and drafting, Minister Naughton stated that 29 bills will be prioritised for publication and 24 for drafting ahead of the 13-week Summer Dáil session.
In terms of legislation, the Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill, which aims to provide tenants who live in rental properties the first option to buy a property when it is up for sale, is set to be published this summer. The Social Welfare (Pay-Related Social Insurance and Jobseeker’s Pay-Related Benefit Provisions) Bill is also set to be published which will offer higher benefits to those with strong previous work experience, if they find themselves unemployed for a period of time. Other bills that are being prioritized for publication include the Digital Services Bill, the Access to Cash Bill, and the Health Information Bill.
Among the bills being prioritised for drafting during the summer session is the Finance Bill which will provide legislative form to taxation proposals in Budget 2025. Another important bill that is being prioritised for drafting is the National Cyber Security Bill which will transpose the NIS2 Directive (EU) 2022/255 into national law and also establish the National Cyber Security Centre of Ireland.
Other bills that are being prioritized for drafting include the Environment Protection Agency and Waste Management (Amendment) Bill and the Health (Amendment) Bill which will include new requirements on the HSE Board and CEO with respect to systems, procedures, and practises to ensure the highest standards are being met.
Work is also taking place on other legislation during the Summer Session such as the Freedom of Information Bill, the EU Data Bill, and the Employment Bill. Noteworthy bills that are currently on the Dáil Order paper include the Planning and Development Bill 2023 which is currently at the Committee Stage, the Gambling Regulation Bill 2022 which is at order for report, and the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024 which is at the order for second stage. The Research and Development Bill 2023 is on the Seanad Order Paper and is at order for committee, while the Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Bill 2023 is at the order for second stage.