Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan’s department has embarrassingly included three long-rescinded laws in its “anti-democratic and authoritarian” new Civil Reform Bill.
The Department of Justice told The Ditch the errors will be “amended”.
Leading public lawyer Michelle Hayes has said the law will “reduce the accountability of public bodies” – and now it emerges the bill features laws repealed a decade ago.
The Civil Reform Bill will transfer some judicial review cases from the High Court to the Circuit Court, including challenges against the justice minister.
The bill says decisions made under the Refugee Act 1996, the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) Regulations 2006 and the European Union (Subsidiary Protection) Regulations 2013 will now come under the Circuit Force.
All three were revoked in 2016 and no longer have legal force.
A spokesperson for the department of justice told The Ditch that the problem will be fixed.
“Head 9 (2)(a) replicates the list of legislation as set out in S.5 of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000. Any references to repealed or replaced legislation will be updated and amended as appropriate as part of the drafting process,” said the spokesperson.
