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Questions regarding the Occupied Territories Bill.

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  • 13-05-2021 11:27pm
    #1
    political analyst
    Registered Users Posts: 4,465 ✭✭✭


    The Occupied Territories Bill, which was brought forward by Senator Frances Black, was passed by both houses of the Oireachtas. Does this mean that the government is obliged by the Constitution to give the Bill to the President for him to decide whether to sign it or to refer it to the Council of State?

    The government has said that the Bill is either unconstitutional or in breach of EU law. If the Bill is either of those, why was the Oireachtas allowed to consider it?


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    #2
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users Posts: 26,150 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    political analyst wrote: »
    The Occupied Territories Bill, which was brought forward by Senator Frances Black, was passed by both houses of the Oireachtas. Does this mean that the government is obliged by the Constitution to give the Bill to the President for him to decide whether to sign it or to refer it to the Council of State??
    It does, if the Bill has in fact passed all stages in both houses.

    According to the Oireachtas website, it has passed all stages in the Seanad, but it's only at Committee Stage in the Dáil; Report Stage and Final Stage have still to be taken.
    political analyst wrote: »
    The government has said that the Bill is either unconstitutional or in breach of EU law. If the Bill is either of those, why was the Oireachtas allowed to consider it?
    Who is going to tell the Oireachtas that they may not consider it?

    Separation of powers, and all that; neither the courts nor the government can order the Oireachtas to consider, or not to consider, any particular matter; each House adopts its own rules for deciding what it will consider and what it won't. The only limit to this is that the Oireachtas can't make decisions that, constitutionally, are matter for the courts to decide, or for the government to decide.


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