Bills

Stage Year Sponsoring minister

Adds 'crisis pregnancy counsellor' to the list of regulated health and social care professions under the 2005 Act, making statutory registration mandatory.
Only registered crisis pregnancy counsellors may use that title; false claims face €3,000 fine and/or six months' imprisonment.
Extends public protection system to crisis pregnancy counselling by requiring competence verification, fitness-to-practise oversight, and complaint determination.

Creates Cannabis Regulation Authority to oversee medicinal cannabis supply through licensing system.
Allows regulated production and distribution of cannabis for medical purposes under government oversight.
Bill did not progress beyond Second Stage debate; current status unknown without recent legislative updates.

Courts must treat crimes more seriously if motivated by prejudice based on race, colour, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity.
Judges can impose harsher sentences when evidence shows an offence was aggravated by such prejudice at the time of commission.
Bill lapsed before completion; never became law. Would have required courts to consider prejudice-based motivation during sentencing.

Lets eligible nursing home residents receive home care instead if suitable services exist and cost the State less.
Applies when long-term residential care is offered but home-based alternatives are available and cheaper.
Bill did not progress beyond Second Stage debate; status is lapsed.

Allows housing authorities to sell homes to tenants who rented them under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000.
Part V requires developers to provide affordable housing; this bill lets authorities sell those homes to current tenants.
Bill lapsed at Second Stage; not enacted into law.

Amends Equal Status Act 2000 to require state-funded denominational schools prove religious preference in admissions is 'essential' to ensure reasonable access for their own faith community, not merely preferred.
Adds constitutional safeguard: courts must consider children's right to attend publicly-funded schools without mandatory religious instruction when assessing if schools' admission policies are 'essential'.
Applies 'necessity test' to preferential admissions policies, shifting legal burden so schools cannot use blanket co-religionist preference without demonstrating actual threat to their religious character.

Workers can request more hours; employers must consider requests and can only refuse for objective reasons.
Employers must tell workers about total available hours in the workplace to improve transparency.
Creates 'banded hours contracts' — employment agreements with defined hour ranges rather than fixed schedules.