Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021

What happened to the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021 and the possible changes to the citizenship laws?

On the General Schemes document published a while ago it mentioned that if approved, it will allow absences of up to 70 days in the twelve-month period prior to an application and allowing for a further period of 30 days in exceptional circumstances.

It also mentioned another change would be that children born in Ireland to non-Irish parents must be resident in the country for three years, instead of five years.

However, the bill that passed and was signed into law (Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2021) left out everything to do with citizenship.

A 'General Scheme' is very different from a 'Bill' or an 'Act'.

A General Scheme is a set of very broad and general 'areas of interest' that the bill drafter wants to talk about.

A Bill would then contain the areas that the legislators did discuss and debate.

And finally the Act is the debated version of the Bill signed by the President, making it an enacted law.

Take the simplest explanation, a general scheme means you and your friends have selected 10 different sun holiday destinations that you want to visit this year. A bill means you have debated with your friends and you have decided on 2 or 3 of them within your budgets. An Act means you have made the final decision.

If you read the final Act, it is mostly just about outdoor seatings, as the legislators need to get that bill signed before the summer comes, so that local business can offer outdoor dinings. For everything else, there isn't such an urgency and will have to be re-raised and debated at a later stage.