Bills
367 bills tracked. What do the stages mean?
Electoral (Civil Society Freedom) (Amendment) Bill 2019
5 Mar 2025 Second Stage Current Lynn Ruane
- Amends Electoral Act 1997 section 22 to narrowly define 'political purposes' as donations relating to specific elections or referendums only, removing ambiguous language covering all government policy advocacy.
- Exempts civil society organisations from strict campaign finance rules when conducting routine lobbying and advocacy work unrelated to electoral campaigns.
- Removes threat of criminal penalties (up to €25,394 fine and three years imprisonment) that currently deters NGOs and volunteers from ordinary political advocacy.
Protection of Employees (Trade Union Subscriptions) Bill 2024
28 Feb 2025 Second Stage Defeated Joan Collins
- Requires employers to deduct trade union subscriptions from employee wages when requested in writing and remit within 21 days to the specified union.
- Standardizes remittance process by requiring employers to include specified information when sending deductions to trade unions and notifying employees.
- Allows employees to withdraw subscription requests in writing; permits existing arrangements and union-employer negotiations to operate outside these requirements.
Regulation of Display of Electoral and Polling Posters and Other Advertisements Bill 2022
28 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Pauline O'Reilly
- Amends election poster and advertisement rules across Presidential, General, Local, European Parliament, and Referendum elections.
- Updates laws governing where, when, and how electoral campaign materials can be displayed during election periods.
- Bill lapsed during Second Stage; did not progress to become law.
Social Welfare (Surviving Cohabitant’s Pension) Bill 2021
28 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Mark Wall
- Amends Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 to allow surviving cohabitants to receive contributory pensions, similar to surviving spouses.
- Extends pension entitlements to people in long-term cohabiting relationships who meet contribution requirements.
- Bill lapsed during legislative process; did not become law.
Equitable Beef Pricing Bill 2020
28 Feb 2025 Second Stage Defeated Peadar Tóibín
- Minister can set minimum beef prices that buyers must pay farmers; temporary power subject to Oireachtas resolution renewal.
- Repeals the '30-month rule' that restricted sale of cattle over 30 months old, originally imposed due to BSE crisis.
- Aims to improve farmer sustainability by ensuring equitable beef pricing and removing age-based market restrictions on cattle sales.
Planning and Development (An Taisce) Bill 2024
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Defeated Mattie McGrath
- Removes An Taisce from four articles of Planning and Development Regulations 2001, ending its status as a prescribed authority entitled to receive notices on planning applications and local authority developments.
- Eliminates An Taisce's formal role in plan-making, planning permission notifications, local authority own development notices, and environmental impact assessments under the Planning Acts.
- Allows Minister to further amend the 2001 Regulations in future without constraint from this change.
Commissions of Investigation (Amendment) Bill 2023
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Defeated Kathleen Funchion
- Requires former commission of investigation members to appear before Oireachtas joint committees within 6 months of final report, if requested in writing.
- Former members must account for how investigation was conducted and compliance with terms of reference, with specified exemptions for court proceedings and confidential evidence.
- Disputes over whether members must answer particular questions are referred to High Court for determination.
Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2023
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Bríd Smith
- Removes the foetal viability limit for abortion where there is risk to the pregnant woman's life or serious harm to her health.
- Allows abortion on request before foetal viability and abolishes the mandatory 3-day waiting period for abortion on request.
- Removes all criminal penalties for providing abortion and permits abortion where fatal foetal abnormality is likely to cause death before or within one year of birth.
Education (Relationships and Sexuality Education) (Amendment) Bill 2022
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Fiona O'Loughlin
- Amends Education Act 1998 to require relationship and sexuality education in primary and post-primary schools.
- Removes religious ethos influence from relationship and sexuality education curriculum and delivery.
- Bill lapsed at Second Stage; did not progress to law.
Employment Equality (Pay Transparency) Bill 2022
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Pa Daly
- Amends Employment Equality Act 1998 to require job advertisers to publish approximate pay for advertised roles.
- Aims to enable workers to negotiate fairly and help close the gender pay gap through wage transparency.
- Applies to business and public sector organisations posting job advertisements.
Impaired Farm Credit Bill 2022
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Defeated Michael Healy-Rae
- Splits farm mortgages into farmhouse and farmlands; farmhouse gets home-loan protections and cannot be repossessed without court order.
- Creates moratorium period monitored by receiver to allow farmers develop debt settlement proposal before possession or sale of farmlands.
- Allows court to impose binding debt restructuring on creditors following EU Directive 2019/1023, enabling debt discharge and fresh start for viable farms.
Education (Inspection of Individual Education Plans for Children with Special Needs) Bill 2022
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Pauline Tully
- Amends Education Act 1998 to give the Inspectorate new powers to examine and report annually on individual education plans for children with special needs.
- Inspectorate must assess prevalence and standard of these plans and report findings to the Minister for Education each year.
- Establishes legal framework enabling Inspectorate to collect and provide data on special educational needs planning on recurring annual basis.
Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Vote at 16) Bill 2021
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Thomas Pringle
- Proposes constitutional amendment to lower voting age from 18 to 16 for elections and referendums.
- Requires Oireachtas approval, then public referendum to pass. Bill lapsed without becoming law.
- Would expand franchise; practical effect unknown without details on which elections included.
Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Chris Andrews
- Adds 'socio-economic disadvantage' as a prohibited ground of discrimination in employment under the Employment Equality Act 1998, preventing employers from discriminating based on applicant's background or address.
- Extends 'socio-economic disadvantage' protection to goods, services, accommodation, and education under the Equal Status Act 2000, preventing providers from discriminating based on where someone lives.
- Defines 'socio-economic disadvantage' and creates legal comparators and exceptions framework to align the new ground with existing equality protections across both Acts.
Health (Amendment) (Dual Diagnosis: No Wrong Door) Bill 2021
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Mark Ward
- Requires HSE to include dual diagnosis services (substance misuse plus mental health disorders) in its annual service plan submitted to the Minister for approval.
- Establishes joint care planning between mental health and addiction services to ensure coordinated treatment access for people with dual diagnosis.
- Applies 'No Wrong Door' principle: people can access treatment through either mental health or addiction services without being turned away.
Protection of Children (Online Pornographic Material) Bill 2020
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Defeated Peadar Tóibín
- Minister must create regulations within six months requiring age-verification or similar means to prevent children accessing online pornography, consulting Data Protection Commission, Film Classification Office, and ComReg.
- ComReg empowered to issue information notices to relevant persons, enforcement notices to stop contraventions, and block internet access to material for up to 14 days (extendable by High Court order).
- Non-compliance with enforcement notices allows ComReg to notify payment and ancillary service providers; breaches constitute criminal offences prosecuted by DPP or ComReg with prescribed penalties.
Údarás na Gaeltachta (Amendment) Bill 2018
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Dessie Ellis
- Introduces democratic elections for Údarás na Gaeltachta members, replacing current appointment method.
- Applies to the authority managing economic and social development in Irish-speaking regions (Gaeltacht).
- Bill lapsed without becoming law; practical impact of proposed changes did not take effect.
Autism Spectrum Disorder Bill 2017
20 Feb 2025 Second Stage Lapsed James Reilly
- Requires Minister for Health to develop and publish a cross-departmental Autism Spectrum Disorder Strategy within two years, addressing service gaps and inconsistencies across the State.
- Strategy must establish accountability systems, define care pathways, ensure consistent service availability nationwide, and require all relevant departments and HSE to implement their parts.
- Minister must publish progress reports every three years to Oireachtas, collect prevalence data from HSE, provide implementation guidance to agencies, and fund a public awareness campaign.
Protection of Children (Online Age Verification) Bill 2024
30 Jan 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Sharon Keogan
- Requires age-verification systems to block under-18s from accessing online pornography.
- Applies to internet pornographic material; enforcement mechanism and technical standards not specified in title.
- Bill lapsed during Second Stage; did not progress to law.
Broadcasting (Restriction of Salaries) Bill 2023
30 Jan 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Rónán Mullen
- Caps RTÉ and TG4 salaries at the level of Cabinet Ministers (€195,161 in 2023); applies to employees and contractors.
- Requires RTÉ and TG4 to publish names and salaries of staff earning above a Dáil member's salary (€107,376 in 2023).
- Creates criminal offences for breaching salary cap or publishing false remuneration data, with fines up to €50,000 and/or five years imprisonment.
National Minimum Wage (Inclusion of Apprentices) Bill 2023
30 Jan 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Marie Sherlock
- Extends national minimum wage protections to apprentices by amending the National Minimum Wage Act 2000.
- Apprentices currently excluded from minimum wage requirements; this bill includes them within existing wage protections.
- Bill lapsed at Second Stage; did not progress to further debate or enactment.
Civil Liability (Schools) Bill 2023
30 Jan 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Rónán Mullen
- Adds new protections to Civil Liability Act 1961: schools cannot be sued for student injuries from accidents on premises if they have adequate supervision and comply with health and safety regulations.
- Shields teachers from negligence liability when providing first aid, medical advice, or transporting injured students to hospital, unless conduct amounts to gross negligence or bad faith.
- Sets legal standard of care for teachers as that of a prudent parent, codifying the test courts have generally applied in school negligence cases.
Domestic Violence (Amendment) Bill 2023
30 Jan 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Vincent P. Martin
- Amends 2018 Domestic Violence Act to prevent accused persons from directly cross-examining child witnesses or alleged victims in coercive control cases.
- Protects vulnerable witnesses from face-to-face questioning by accused abusers during court proceedings involving coercive control offences.
- Bill lapsed; did not progress beyond Second Stage debate in Oireachtas.
Civil Registration (Amendment) (Certificate of Life) Bill 2022
30 Jan 2025 Second Stage Lapsed Regina Doherty
- Amends Civil Registration Act 2004 to allow Minister for Health to create a non-statutory Certificate of Life register for babies not meeting stillbirth criteria.
- Certificate of Life available for unborn children below 500 grammes weight or less than 24 weeks gestation, with no gestational or weight restrictions.
- Provides families with official recognition of loss and potential traceability record for future generations outside statutory stillbirth registration.