How a bill becomes law

The journey in brief

A bill has to pass both Houses of the Oireachtas, going through five stages in each, before the President can sign it. Most bills start in the Dáil. The Oireachtas passes about 50 Acts a year.

1. In the Dáil

   1. First Stage
   2. Second Stage
   3. Committee Stage
   4. Report Stage
   5. Fifth Stage

   A bill can start in the Seanad instead and come to the Dáil second.

2. In the Seanad

   2. Second Stage
   3. Committee Stage
   4. Report Stage
   5. Fifth Stage

   Any changes the Seanad makes go back to the Dáil, which can accept or reject them.

3. The President

   1. Signs the bill
   2. It becomes an Act

   Or, rarely, refers it to the Supreme Court first.

Right now, according to the official record: 61 at First Stage, 194 at Second Stage, 93 at Committee Stage, 7 at Report Stage, 2 at Fifth Stage, and 57 enacted this term.

Who can bring in a bill

Government bills come from ministers, after the Cabinet approves them. The Government's budget each year is put into law this way, through a Finance Bill and a Social Welfare Bill.

Private Members' Bills come from TDs and senators who are not in the Government: opposition members, and backbenchers in the Government parties too. They are debated in the time set aside each week for Private Members' business. If a Private Member's Bill would involve public spending, it cannot get past Second Stage unless the Government agrees to the spending, by what is called a money message.

Money Bills, which deal only with taxes, public spending or borrowing, and bills to change the Constitution must start in the Dáil.

Before a bill is published

For a Government bill, the department usually consults first, and often publishes an outline of the bill, called the general scheme or "heads of the bill". An Oireachtas committee then looks at that outline and reports back before the final text is written. This is pre-legislative scrutiny. The Business Committee can waive it in some cases.

A Private Member's Bill gets its committee look later: after it passes Second Stage, a committee examines it before Committee Stage can be ordered, unless the Business Committee waives that step.

The five stages

1. First Stage: the bill is published

   A minister presents a Government bill. TDs who are not in the Government can also present a bill as a group of seven or more, one bill per group at a time. Otherwise a TD asks the Dáil's leave to introduce a bill, which the House can grant or refuse. Once through, the bill is printed and goes on to Second Stage.

   Bills at First Stage now

2. Second Stage: the big debate

   TDs debate the general idea of the bill. At the end, the Dáil decides whether it goes any further. Any TD can call for a recorded vote by saying "Vótáil".

   Bills at Second Stage now

3. Committee Stage: line by line

   The bill is examined section by section, usually in a select committee rather than the full Dáil. TDs propose amendments and debate them with the minister. There is no limit on how often a member can speak on an amendment, so this stage can take a long time.

   Bills at Committee Stage now

4. Report Stage: last chance to amend

   The whole Dáil considers amendments that come out of Committee Stage. No brand-new amendments can be added, and each member can speak only twice on each one.

5. Fifth Stage: passing the bill

   Usually taken straight after Report Stage. There are no amendments and only short statements, and then the Dáil passes the bill, or votes on it.

The Seanad

Once the Dáil passes a bill, it goes to the Seanad, which takes it from Second Stage. The Seanad can delay a bill but cannot stop it: if the Seanad rejects a bill, the Dáil can, within 180 days, declare it passed by both Houses anyway.

For an ordinary bill the Seanad has 90 days. For a Money Bill, which deals only with taxes, public spending and borrowing and is certified as such by the Ceann Comhairle, the Seanad has 21 days and can only recommend changes, not make them.

If the Seanad amends a bill, the amendments go back to the Dáil to accept or reject. The official record calls this list of returned amendments the "cream list", which is why a few bills on this site show "Cream List" as their most recent stage.

The President

When both Houses have passed a bill, it goes to the President to sign. The President signs it no sooner than the fifth day and no later than the seventh day after receiving it, unless, at the Government's request, the Seanad agrees to an earlier date. It then becomes an Act.

If the President has doubts about whether a bill is constitutional, they can, after consulting the Council of State (a group of senior office holders, and people the President appoints, who advise the President), refer it to the Supreme Court within seven days. If the Court finds any part of it unconstitutional, the President does not sign it.

There is one other route, which has never been used: if a majority of the Seanad and at least a third of the Dáil petition the President, the President can decline to sign a bill until the people approve it in a referendum, or a new Dáil does after an election.

After it becomes law

Some Acts take effect straight away. Others start on a date a minister sets later, by an order called a statutory instrument. Ministers and other bodies also make detailed rules under Acts, known as secondary legislation. The Oireachtas does not make these itself, and they must stay within what the Act allows.

When a bill does not get through

The official record gives every bill a status. On this site you will see:

• Current: still going through the Houses.
• Enacted: signed into law.
• Lapsed: it fell, for example because the Dáil was dissolved for an election. A new Dáil can vote to restore a bill to the stage it had reached, which is why you will see votes headed "Restoration to Order Paper".
• Defeated: voted down.
• Withdrawn: taken back by whoever brought it in.

This term so far: 262 current, 24 defeated, 57 enacted, 68 lapsed, 3 withdrawn.

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