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WE KNOW NOW for sure that there won’t be any new legislation enacted before next September – because the Dáil and the Seanad have gone on their summer breaks and won’t be reconvening for another eight weeks.
The Oireachtas recess marks the end of the government’s summer term – so we thought we’d go back to the list it released in April, of the 29 pieces of legislation it aimed to publish this term, and see how they got on.
As with the original list, the following is sorted on a department-by-department (that is, minister-by-minister) basis.
1. Animal Health and Welfare Bill – This bill updates and consolidates previous laws relating to animal health and welfare, and repealed some redundant laws. Controversially, it gave a legally enshrined status to hare coursing. Published.
2. Forestry Bill – This Bill hopes to offer a similar overhaul to the existing laws in the forestry sector, hoping also to advance sustainability practices. Not published. A spokesperson said the Department hoped to publish it after the Summer recess.
3. Gaeltacht Bill - Legislation to revise the official definition of a Gaeltacht, and to change the structure of Údarás na Gaeltachta so that there are no more direct elections. Published. The subject of a controversial Dáil walk-out by the opposition this week. Due to be signed into law next week.
4. Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Bill – Legislation which will transfer official responsibility for translation services away from the Department and into the Oireachtas, which is considered an apolitical body. Not published (yet). A spokesperson said the Bill had been approved at Cabinet last Tuesday and should be Published shortly.
5. Children First Bill – A landmark piece of legislation which will give legal effect to the government’s commitments on child protection. Not published. The ‘Heads of Bill’ – a skeletal version of the law – was publishe in May so that interest groups could give feedback; the Oireachtas committee overseeing children’s affairs recently submitted a 700-page report to the Department, which is now being taken on board. An updated Bill is likely to be out in the autumn.
6. Minerals Development Bill – An overhaul of existing legislation dealing with mineral mining. Not published. A spokesperson said the legislation was at an ‘advanced stage of drafting’.
7. Civil Defence Board (Dissolution) Bill – A Bill to scrap the Civil Defence Board and transfer its functions back to the Department of Defence. Not published. A spokeswoman said they anticipated that the Bill would be published in September.
8. Education and Training Boards Bill – Legislation to overhaul the current structure of the VEC system, merging existing bodies so that the total number is reduced from 33 to 16. Not published. A spokeswoman said the Bill is still being formally drafted but should be released over the summer break.
9. Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill – Legislation which aimed to address legal question marks over the constitutionality of any body established under the Local Government Act 1971. This, in turn, would help to facilitate the abolition of many of those bodies. It would also allow individuals to be the manager of more than one county council. Published.
10. Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill – Legislation which aims to encourage the increased use of mediation to resolve tenant-landlord disputes, and therefore reduce the workload of the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Published.
11. Betting (Amendment) Bill – Updating 70-year-old legislation so that offshore bookies will need a licence before they can accept bets from Irish residents. It also makes sure they are subject to the same duty as Irish-licensed bookies. Published.
12. Central Bank (Regulation of Credit Unions) Bill – Legislation which hopes to provide a stronger method of regulation for credit unions. Not published. A draft version was released earlier this summer, and the full version is now due in September. A spokesman said the delayed publication had been agreed with the Troika.
13. Fiscal Responsibility Bill – The Fiscal Compact required countries to put ‘automatic correction mechanisms’ in place so that any major government overspending could be automatically corrected. Published.
14, Fiscal Responsibility (No. 2) Bill – Legislation “to provide for the other fiscal control measures required under the EU-IMF Programme of Financial Support”. Not published; a Department spokesman declined to comment on its status.
15. Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism Bill – Legislation which formally allowed Ireland to ratify the ESM Treaty and participate in the Eurozone’s new bailout fund. Published.
16. European Communities Act 1972 (Amendment) Bill – Legislation which goes hand-in-hand with the ESM Treaty, amending the EU’s founding treaties so that a permanent bailout fund would no longer be illegal. Published.
17. Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Bill – A bill establishing a formal system of reference pricing, and allowing pharmacists to dispense generic equivalents instead of more expensive brand-name drugs under certain circumstances. Published.
18. Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Bill – Legislation which will tweak the nature and membership of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council. Not published. A spokesperson said it was due to be discussed at Cabinet “shortly”. “As the Bill was of a technical nature the amendments involved lengthy consultation with the Office of the Parliamentary Draughtsman,” they added.
19. HSE Governance Bill – A law to overhaul the internal structure of the HSE, creating six new ‘directorates’ which will be overseen by a Director-General and not a CEO. Published. HSE chief executive Cathal Magee has indicated his intention to step down, rather than become a director-general.
20. Companies (Amendment) Bill – A housekeeping Bill which will allow companies to use a particular US standard of accounting. The idea is to allow US subsidiaries to file the same version of the accounts they would have to use in the States. Published.
21. Criminal Justice (Search Powers) Bill – A law to address the implications of the Supreme Court judgment in the case taken by Ali Charaf Damache. That case ruled that it was unconstitutional for some Gardaí to issue search warrants – as was permitted under legislation – and then follow them up themselves. Published.
22. Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions) Bill – Legislation allowing people not to disclose some previous criminal convictions, as long as their punishments were below a certain threshold and a minimum time had passed since conviction. Published.
23. Criminal Justice (Withholding Information on Crimes against Children and Vulnerable Adults) Bill – Making it a crime to have knowledge about a crime against a child or vulnerable person, and not pass that information onto Gardaí. Published.
24. Europol Bill – Allowing Ireland to ratify the creation of Europol, a new trans-EU police organisation, and replacing previous legislation with similar functions. Not published, though a spokesperson said it was due out “shortly”.
25. Mental Capacity Bill – Reforming the law on mental capacity, following the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission’s report on the subject. Not published. A spokeswoman said it was still being drafted and would probably be submitted for government approval before the next Dáil session begins in eight weeks.
26. National Vetting Bureau Bill – Legislation setting up a new National Vetting Bureau to oversee recruitment within certain trades such as teaching. Published.
27. Personal Insolvency Bill – Reforming Ireland’s bankruptcy laws and allowing the creation of new court-enforced systems under which debts can be written off after a certain period of time, pending the approval of the creditors. Published.
28. Statute Law Revision Bill – Scrapping around 7,000 redundant pieces of legislation dating from before Ireland’s independence. Many of those laws are Private Acts allowing two people to divorce; for a long time these laws were the only way to get a divorce under UK law. Published.
29. Valuation Act 2001 (Amendment) Bill – A general piece of legislation to change previous laws, which create a Valuation Commissioner who can oversee methods by which the value of property can be reappraised. Not published, but the government is due to approve a draft version next Tuesday.
Total: 17 published so far, 4 due to be published ‘shortly’ or imminently, 8 delayed.
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No Karla. An elderly person is a person who has lived a life complete with experiences & emotions & is to be treated with due respect. Elderly people are NOT to be confused with children who require discipline.your ignorance makes my blood boil.if an elderly person does not want to dress or change or in fact does want to go for a midnight stroll then u treat them as an adult with the respect they deserve & explain as best u can the position both u & they are in. If that fails u TRY AGAIN & AGAIN. You certainly DO NOT berate them like children!!!!!!
I dont see where I said one should berate them.
I take it then it is ok to let them sit in there own urine for hours on end. Because thats what they want even thought they will end up with sores.
Tell oh wise one is that what you would do? Let your mommy sit in soiled clothes because she had no intention of changing, it does happen and is referred to as self neglect 485 cases of elder abuse in 2010 were of self neglect, there are no guidelines in how to help and elder who is self neglecting. By the way 485 we’re out of 1800 cases reported. It’s very common and hard for their carers.
You should consider doing something different as caring for the elderly isn’t isn’t your strong point.
Not a hope, even though I’m on the elderly persons side. I dont really know any elderly people
So have no idea what caring for them entails. I don’t claim to know how to look after one, in fact in my first post I asked what exactly was elder abuse. No one seems to have an answer….
They just want to pick faults with my posts.
Forcefully dress a child,bribery,and “use a strong tone of voice”you mean yell at them.
Good god girl.
Ffs do you speak in monotone? There are various voice strengths, whispering, soft, normal, raised, very loud and shouting. These are at different decibels, a strong tone would increase the decibel a couple of notches higher than your normal voice. To shout you would need to be around 20 decibels louder.
I can only imagine what it’s like to look after an older person, which a child you can force them to get dressed, use a strong tone of voice, bribe them, tell them no tv, put them on the naughty step but with an elderly person you can’t, if they want to sit in their own urine and dont want to get dressed your damed if you force then to and your damed if you leave them sitting in it. So what exactly is a carer supposed to do? I have no idea, some elderly people are very stubborn, so my question what exactly is elder abuse? Not talking about the obvious like hitting them but the other stuff like what I mention above.
Karla elder abuse comes in many shapes and forms. not giving an older person a drink or putting just out of reach can be seen as a form of abuse . . . withholding money. shouting screaming hitting mental and physical abuse. yeah your right. you can kinda force a kid to do something but that also can be seen Aswan form of abuse too. there is fine line there
And I have no doubt it is hard for carers. Having had personal experience Karla I have no doubt AT ALL.
Yes, i agree, think thats one of the reasons carers for carers was set up.
Wow, never realised there were so many perfect people in Ireland. I must be such a failure.
Yes and I am of the firm belief that if people received the proper supports within an appropriate time frame then the levels of abuse would decrease dramatically. My experience Karla (it is not limited to 1 person nor 1 instance) is that people usually respond (if not to you then another carer,unfortunately this is where the government fail). I would not consider this abuse,at the least it is gentle persuasion, at the most firm persuasion/coercion by 2 or more people.Yes,obviously if there is a real risk then professional opinions need to be sought(I never claimed to be an expert) my issue is that elder abuse,when it does occur,can be very subtle & “easily” explained away by a person claiming to “know better”. The line may be fine but it IS there. It may be a result of a carer that needs to care 24/7,work full time & quite often care for their own family-again this is where the government fails. But I am of the firm belief that we cannot tolerate this-we cannot dismiss elderly people’s feelings & emotions easily. Sometimes saying “NO” is all we have left when our independence & health is failing & trying to empathise with this can make all the difference.
Thanks for that, that is all i really wanted to know,
Firm persuasion/coercion by 2 or more people is accepabtle when dealing with a combative /self neglecting elder.
*anything more than that is abuse?
Thank you for your honest answers, couldnt find anything on the net and i really wanted to know where the line was draw.
I’ve no doubt it does happen Karla-I read the article just like u. Like I said, you speak to the person & if they refuse you explain your position or leave it for 5 mins before you approach them again. Care of the elderly is taught this way. Or would u rather another? Sitting elderly people on the “naughty step”? It can be done. Without comparing a person that has lived a full life with a child. And no1 said perfect-the article itself shows care of the elderly is not perfect. I didn’t realise that people in Ireland didn’t want high standards for their parents/grandparents/relatives/friends when they need care
Ok, so you leave it for 5 mins and another and another after 3 hours they still wont budge and the carer has been nagging them a total of 36 times, well lets say 20 times but that in its self is mind boggling and abusive to continue to ask them, when all they want is to sit there maybe watch a bit of tv and have a snooze. Im not saying anyone is right or anyone is wrong, each elderly person is different. But what would your position be? would you them “your sitting in your own urine its going to cause an infection if we dont wash you and change you, will you come with me so i can help you” they say “NO” im fine i havent wet myself. this goes on for how long? 3 hours, 5 hours 8 hours then its bed time and they still wont change, do they sleep in their clothes?
Im not trying to pick faults with your post, im trying to understand what is acceptable and what is not!
Is it acceptable to leave a elderly person in soiled clothes for 24 hours because they dont want to change?
it should be a yes or no answer,
If yes, it is acceptable to leave them in soiled clothes for 24 hours, is it acceptable they stay in their soiled clothes for 2 days or 3 without being changed because they dont want to? How long is too long? and what action is taken when its deemed to long? or because they wish to stay in soiled clothes and because they are an adult and deserve respect for their wishes so they are left indeinatly in their soiled clothes until a time they wish to change, be that 3 weeks later?
If NO, what action is taken? since they wont listen to the care giver and will not agree to change or shower.
Like I said Karla,I don’t claim to be an expert, I do acknowledge there is a fine line. I just know that if the HSE were claiming an increase in child abuse or people with disabilities being abused the response would be very different & not, going back to your first point, labelling the abused as “stubborn”.
Well that’s the terrible 2s for you. A strong tone of voice is not yelling as a soft tone is not whispering. Yelling at an old person is not on, neither is yelling at kids. an adult can do what the he’ll they like a child can’t. I would say it would be harder to care for an adult than a child. The child has to do as the parent says otherwise they are disciplined. You can’t discipline an elderly person because they have every right to do what they want when they want. where do you draw the line, when they insist on going for a midnight walk and it’s too dangerous for them you cant send them to bed like you would a child. You try to dress and elderly person for bed and they refuse you cant grab their arm and put their arm in the sleeve if they are holding their arms to their chest even though it’s bed time and you can’t let them sleep in their clothes as that in neglect, to me there seems to be a fine line between caring for an elderly person and neglect/abuse both psychological and physical.
have your say