Legislation update - 21 November
New Acts and Statutory Instruments.
Acts
Act 42/2024. An Act to provide for the making available for supply, without charge, to certain women, of certain products used to alleviate the symptoms of menopause; and, for that purpose, to amend the Health Act 1970 and the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013; to amend the Health Insurance Act 1994 to specify the amount of premium to be paid from the Risk Equalisation Fund in respect of certain classes of insured persons from 1 April 2025; to amend the definition, in that Act, of high cost claim; to amend the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999; and to provide for related matters.
Signed: 11 November 2024
Commencement: Sections 2 to 5 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Health may by order or orders appoint either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions. Sections 8 and 9 shall come into operation on 1 April 2025. Section 10 shall come into operation on 1 January 2025.
Act 43/2024. An Act to provide for the imposition, repeal, remission, alteration and regulation of taxation, of stamp duties and of duties relating to excise and otherwise to make further provision in connection with finance; to make provision for supports to employers and certain businesses and for that purpose to amend the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 and Part 7 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020; and to provide for related matters.
Signed: 12 November 2024
Commencement: Except where otherwise expressly provided for in Part 1, that Part shall come into operation on 1 January 2025. Except where otherwise expressly provided for, where a provision of this Act is to come into operation on the making of an order by the Minister for Finance, that provision shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Finance shall appoint either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.
Act 44/2024. An Act to provide for the conduct of, and participation in, general meetings of a company or industrial and provident society by the use of electronic communications technology; to repeal certain provisions of the Companies Act 2014 and the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1893; to provide for the circumstances in which a company is not entitled to an audit exemption under section 358 of the Companies Act 2014; to provide for the disapplication of the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 to an offence under section 343 of the Companies Act 2014; to make certain amendments to the rescue process for small and micro companies; to provide for additional grounds for involuntary strike off of companies; to extend the list of competent authorities to which the Authority may disclose information, books or documents under section 792 of the Companies Act 2014; to provide for an offence of obstructing, interfering with or impeding an officer of the Corporate Enforcement Authority; to enable the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority to use money paid into the reserve fund in accordance with section 919 of the Companies Act 2014 in the performance of its functions under section 934 of that Act; to enable the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority to issue an interim direction in certain circumstances; to enable specified bodies to disclose information to the Corporate Enforcement Authority under section 944Q of the Companies Act 2014; and for those purposes, and other purposes, to amend the Companies Act 2014, the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1893, and the Registration of Business Names Act 1963.
Signed: 12 November 2024
Commencement: This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment may by order or orders appoint either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions, and for the repeal of different provisions of enactments effected by section 3(1).
Act 45/2024. An Act to appropriate to the proper supply services and purposes sums granted by the Central Fund (Permanent Provisions) Act 1965, to make provision in relation to deferred surrender to the Central Fund of certain undischarged appropriations by reference to the capital supply services and purposes as provided for by section 91 of the Finance Act 2004 and, for the purpose of maintaining a sufficient amount of moneys in the Paymaster General’s Supply Account so as to enable the discharge of particular liabilities, to make provision for repayable advances from the Central Fund.
Signed: 13 November 2024
Act 46/2024. An Act to amend the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act 2003; and to provide for related matters
Signed: 13 November 2024
Commencement: This Act comes into operation on 1 January 2025.
Act 47/2024. An Act to prohibit the sale by retail of tobacco products to persons under the age of 21 years; and for those and other related purposes, to amend the Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2002 and the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023; and to provide for related matters.
Signed: 13 November 2024
Commencement: Subject to subsection (4), this Act shall come into operation on 1 February 2028. Section 10 shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes and different provisions.
Act 48/2024. An Act to provide for the establishment of a Family High Court, Family Circuit Court and Family District Court as divisions of the existing High Court, Circuit Court and District Court; to provide for the reallocation of jurisdiction in family law proceedings between the family courts; to provide for the assignment of Principal Judges and other judges to the family courts; to provide for the establishment of Family Circuit Court circuits and Family District Court districts; to provide for matters supplementary to the establishment of the family courts and matters relating to the judges of those courts; to make provision in relation to the conduct of family law proceedings before such courts; to make further provision in respect of rules of court in family law proceedings and to provide for the establishment of a Family Courts Practice and Procedure Committee; and, for those and other purposes, to amend the Courts of Justice Act 1924, the Court Officers Act 1926, the Legitimacy Act 1931, the Courts of Justice Act 1936, the Enforcement of Court Orders Act 1940, the Courts of Justice Act 1953, the Courts (Establishment and Constitution) Act 1961, the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961, the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964, the Family Home Protection Act 1976, the Family Law (Maintenance of Spouses and Children) Act 1976, the Courts Act 1981, the Family Law Act 1981, the Status of Children Act 1987, the Judicial Separation and Family Law Reform Act 1989, the Child Care Act 1991, the Child Abduction and Enforcement of Custody Orders Act 1991, the Maintenance Act 1994, the Family Law Act 1995, the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995, the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996, the Jurisdiction of Courts and Enforcement of Judgments Act 1998, the Protection of Children (Hague Convention) Act 2000, the Courts and Court Officers Act 1995, the Courts (No. 2) Act 1997, the Courts and Court Officers Act 2002, the Civil Registration Act 2004, the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005, the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009, the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010, the Adoption Act 2010, the European Communities (Maintenance) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 274 of 2011), the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015, the Gender Recognition Act 2015, the Domestic Violence Act 2018, the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2023, the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Act 2024, the European Union (Hague Maintenance Convention) Regulations 2019 (S.I. No. 594 of 2019), the European Communities (Decisions in Matrimonial Matters and in Matters of Parental Responsibility and International Child Abduction) Regulations 2022 (S.I. No. 400 of 2022) and certain other enactments; to provide for the protection of parties in family law proceedings; to provide for the repeal of certain enactments; and to provide for related matters.
Signed: 13 November 2024
Commencement: This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for— (a) different purposes or different provisions, (b) different courts, different Family Circuit Court circuits and different Family District Court districts, and (c) the repeal and amendment of different provisions of enactments effected by sections 5 and 6.
Acts to date are published electronically on the Irish Statute Book website.
Bills
The current status of all Bills can be viewed under Bills & Acts on the Oireachtas website
Statutory Instruments
SI 622/2024. This Order designates the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the purposes of mutual assistance between the State and that state under the Criminal Justice (Mutual Assistance) Act 2008 (No. 7 of 2008), in accordance with the relevant international instruments set out in the Schedule to the Order. It adds Title II of Part 3 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part, done at Brussels and London on 30 December 2020 to the Schedule as appeared in S.I. No. 44 of 2022 and revokes that Order.
Commencement: 7 November 2024.
SI 623/2024. These Regulations authorise the processing, including the further processing, of special categories of personal data, including Article 10 data, by the Defence Forces Tribunal of Inquiry (‘the Tribunal’) pursuant to section 51(3) of the Data Protection Act 2018 to the extent that such processing is necessary and proportionate for reasons of substantial public interest. The Regulations also require the Tribunal to have in place certain suitable and specific measures relating to the processing, including the further processing, of data under these regulations.
Commencement: 7 November 2024.
SI 624/2024. These Regulations authorise the processing, including the further processing, of personal data by the Defence Forces Tribunal of Inquiry (‘the Tribunal’) pursuant to section 38 (4) of the Data Protection Act 2018 to the extent that such processing is necessary and proportionate to the performance of a relevant task by the Tribunal. The Regulations also require the Tribunal to have in place certain policies and procedures relating to the processing, including the further processing, of data under these regulations.
Commencement: 7 November 2024.
SI 625/2024.
Commencement: 7 November 2024.
SI 607/2024.
Commencement: 8 November 2024
SI 626/2024.
Commencement: 7 November 2024.
SI 627/2024.
Commencement: 18 November 2024.
SI 628/2024. These Regulations made by the Chairperson of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in accordance with Section 24B of the Consumer Protection Act 2007 revoke the Consumer Protection Act 2007 (National Consumer Agency) Levy Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 560 of 2011) and provide for a levy scheme to fund the provision of information in relation to financial services including information in relation to the costs to consumers, the risks and benefits associated with the provision of those services and promoting the development of financial education and capability. The Regulations also provide for the collection of the levy with associated requirements and obligations for the regulated entities subject to this levy.
Commencement: 15 November 2024.
SI 629/2024.
Commencement: 8 November 2024.
