Bills
322 bills tracked. What do the stages mean?
Local Government (Maternity and Family Leave for Elected Members) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Holly Cairns
- Allows local authority members to take maternity, adoptive, parental, and force majeure leave without needing council approval, matching staff entitlements under existing leave laws.
- Protects members from deemed resignation due to absence for childbirth or adoption by treating notified leave as approved under current attendance rules.
- Extends the 6-month absence limit to account for eligible family leave periods, preventing automatic loss of membership for qualifying absences.
Health (Inspection of Emergency Homeless Accommodation and Asylum Seekers Accommodation) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Eoin Ó Broin
- Expands Health Information and Quality Authority's inspection powers to cover emergency homeless accommodation funded by local authorities and asylum seeker reception centres.
- Amends Health Act 2007 to add five new accommodation types as 'designated centres' subject to Authority oversight and quality standards.
- Requires Health Minister to obtain consent from Housing and Children Ministers before approving standards for these facilities.
Organisation of Working Time (Workers' Rights and Bogus Self-Employment) (Amendment) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Louise O'Reilly
- Makes it an offence for employers to misclassify employees as self-employed when the actual working relationship is that of an employee.
- Extends Organisation of Working Time Act protections to Garda members, Defence Forces personnel, sea workers, and trainee doctors.
- Grants self-employed workers entitlements to daily rest, weekly rest, annual leave, public holiday pay, and limits on average weekly hours.
Maternity Care (Covid-19) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Peadar Tóibín
- Requires hospitals to permit one accompanying person to attend with mothers during labour, birth, and specified occasions before and after delivery.
- Allows accompanying person to visit baby in neonatal or special care units, with broad definition to cover fathers and others.
- Permits hospitals to refuse accompanying person only if Covid-19 positive test or symptoms present substantial transmission risk in circumstances.
Betting (Prohibition on Use of Credit Cards) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Thomas Gould
- Betting licence applicants must pledge to Revenue not to accept credit cards or credit-card-equivalent payment systems for placing bets, directly or indirectly.
- Existing licence holders with more than 3 months remaining must give the same undertaking within 3 months of the Act commencing.
- Breach of undertaking enables the Minister to revoke a certificate of personal fitness or apply to District Court for licence revocation.
Planning and Development (Amendment) (First-Time Buyers) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Paul McAuliffe
- Allows local authorities to reserve up to 30% of residential zoned land for first-time home buyers in their housing strategies.
- Requires local authorities to separately assess build-to-rent housing needs in their housing strategies, distinct from other housing requirements.
- Permits local authorities to exempt build-to-rent developments from first-time buyer reservation requirements if aligned with rental housing strategy targets.
North-South Interconnector Review Group Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Peadar Tóibín
- Establishes a five-member review group to examine the North-South Interconnector electricity cable route, analyzing undergrounding versus overgrounding options.
- Review group must assess technical performance, costs, environmental impact, and effects on property values and local businesses within 12 months.
- Minister must present the review group's report to Parliament within two months of receipt; group dissolves three months after submitting its report.
Dáil (All-Ireland Representation) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Peadar Tóibín
- Allows MPs elected in Northern Ireland constituencies to sit, speak and ask questions in the Dáil under same terms as Dáil members.
- Defines key terms and sets commencement provisions for the legislation enabling cross-border parliamentary representation.
- Creates mechanism for Northern Ireland MPs to participate in Dáil proceedings subject to existing Dáil membership conditions.
Redundancy Payments (Lay off, Short Time and Calculation of Reckonable Service) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Louise O'Reilly
- Clarifies employees on lay-off or short time can take other work without losing redundancy rights from previous employer.
- Makes it an offence for employers to falsely treat laid-off employees as resigned to deny redundancy entitlements.
- Requires Minister to report on counting lay-off periods during emergency as reckonable service for redundancy payment calculations.
Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Barry Cowen
- Reduces An Bord Pleanála decision timelines across multiple planning appeal types from 14-18 weeks to 10-12 weeks.
- Allows Minister to prescribe different timeframes by regulation, generally or for specific appeal classes.
- Aims to speed up planning application resolutions for businesses, householders, and other applicants.
Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Peadar Tóibín
- Requires all road traffic signs to display both Irish and English text with equal prominence and size.
- Mandates Irish text appear above English, use Roman alphabet with capital initial letters, and may use colour differentiation.
- Amends Road Traffic Act 1961 to establish dual-language signage standards across Ireland's road network.
Road Traffic (Amendment) (Electric Scooter Trials) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed John Lahart
- Authorizes time-limited trials of electric scooters through approved rental schemes, allowing the Minister for Transport to regulate their use during trial periods.
- Restricts trials to shared/hire schemes rather than privately-owned scooters, enabling safety controls like speed governance, helmet requirements, and geo-fencing via GPS.
- Aims to establish universal safety standards and build public confidence in electric scooters as micro-mobility transport before wider introduction.
Road Traffic (Amendment) (Personal Light Electric Vehicles) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Alan Farrell
- Legalises electric scooters and e-bikes by setting technical specifications and excluding them from driver licensing and motor insurance requirements.
- Prohibits users under 16, tampering with speed limiters, and mobile phone use while operating personal light electric vehicles.
- Exempts these vehicles from motor tax and vehicle registration; extends road safety rules applicable to pedal cycles to e-scooters and e-bikes.
Rural Equality Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Claire Kerrane
- Public bodies must submit rural impact schemes to the Minister assessing socio-economic effects of proposed measures on rural Ireland.
- Public bodies must consider mitigation measures and alternatives to reduce rural socio-economic inequalities when implementing policies.
- Minister publishes guidelines for public bodies and presents annual reports to Oireachtas on rural equality progress.
Health (Parliamentary Oversight of Certain Instruments Relating to Covid-19) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Pa Daly
- Amends Health Act 1947 to require both Houses of Oireachtas to pass resolutions confirming Covid-19 regulations and orders within 14 sitting days or 21 calendar days, or they are automatically annulled.
- Allows either House to annul Covid-19 regulations and orders by resolution before confirmation deadline expires, without affecting actions already taken under them.
- Excludes Covid-19 instruments from existing Health Act section 5 procedures, replacing them with new parliamentary oversight framework requiring affirmative confirmation instead of negative annulment.
Oireachtas Members (Economic Justice) (Covid-19) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Peadar Tóibín
- Reduces TDs' and Senators' salaries by 25% while Covid-19 restrictions specified in Government's Plan for Living with Covid-19 remain in force.
- Applies only to salaries; does not affect allowances paid to Oireachtas members.
- Reduction applies when restrictions are in effect across the State or a large proportion of it.
Children (Amendment) Bill 2021
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Jim O'Callaghan
- Removes ban on naming accused persons in cases where child victim is deceased, allowing media to identify them.
- Allows adult survivors of childhood offences to voluntarily waive their anonymity protections under Children Act 2001.
- Clarifies section 252 of Children Act 2001 was never intended to prevent identification of deceased child victims.
Organisation of Working Time (Amendment) (Carryover of Annual Leave) (Covid-19) Bill 2020
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Louise O'Reilly
- Amends Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 to allow employees to carry over untaken annual leave where Covid-19 made it impracticable to take leave.
- Carried-over leave can be taken in the two leave years immediately following the year in which it was due.
- If employment ends with outstanding carried-over leave, employer must pay compensation equal to wages the employee would have earned taking that leave.
Social Welfare Commission Bill 2020
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Claire Kerrane
- Establishes a nine-member Commission appointed by the Minister to examine minimum income needs of social welfare recipients and develop a minimum essential standard of living.
- Commission monitors social welfare rates annually, provides reports, and may recommend changes to any Department of Social Protection payment rates to the Minister.
- Commission may recommend that Government Departments conduct poverty impact assessments of specific measures where it considers necessary.
Wind Turbine Regulation Bill 2020
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Brian Stanley
- Restricts export of electricity generated by wind turbines and requires public consultation on new wind turbine developments.
- Sets minimum setback distances from dwellings to protect against noise and shadow flicker; assigns planning authority duties.
- Places financial and decommissioning obligations on turbine owners; enables community ownership models for wind turbines.
Organisation of Working Time (Amendment) (Right to Disconnect) Bill 2020
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Louise O'Reilly
- Amends the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 to create a legal right for employees to disconnect from work emails, texts, and calls outside working hours.
- Requires employers to establish a right-to-disconnect policy in consultation with employees and trade unions, setting specific hours when work contact is not expected.
- Allows employees to voluntarily waive their right to disconnect only with explicit consent, aiming to reduce work-related stress from 'always on' culture.
Residential Tenancies (Extension of Eviction Ban) Bill 2020
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Paul Murphy
- Extends ban on evictions and rent increases for six months from enactment, with government power to extend the period further if in public interest.
- Prevents landlords serving termination notices during emergency period; revises termination dates already set within that period to after it ends.
- Repeals provisions of Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020 and guarantees tenants' right to remain in dwellings until emergency period expires.
Latent Defects Redress Bill 2020
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Eoin Ó Broin
- Creates independent Latent Defects Redress Board to provide information, mediation, and adjudication for homeowners with non-compliant homes.
- Board will assess homes for latent defects including fire safety and structural issues, and review penalties for developer/builder breaches.
- Minister appoints establishment day and determines Board's powers to help owners address building regulation non-compliance.
Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Right to a Home) Bill 2020
14 Nov 2024 First Stage Lapsed Eoin Ó Broin
- Proposed constitutional amendment to establish a legal right to adequate housing for all Irish residents.
- Would require the state to work toward providing homes and preventing homelessness through legislation and policy.
- Bill did not progress beyond First Stage; lapsed without becoming law.