Oifig na gComhairleoirí Dlí ParlaiminteachaThe Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers (OPLA)

OPLA Private Members’ Bills ServicesA Step-by-Step Guide for Members

The OPLA is the Oireachtas’ in-house legal teamThe OPLA is headed by the Chief Parliamentary Legal Adviser and includes lawyers (each of whom is experienced and professionally qualified as a solicitor or barrister in the State), researchers and administrators. The office is tripartite in its operations:

The OPLA offers independent, impartial and confidential legal services. The Office’s independence is given statutory effect by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (Amendment) Act 2018.

The OPLA is delighted to offer Members assistance with your Private Members’ Bills (PMBs) including confidential: legal advice, legal policy analysis and legislative drafting services.

The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission has sanctioned this service to Members, to be provided initially on a pilot basis and to be reviewed six months after its implementation. This Step-by-Step Guide explains what services we can provide to support you with your legislative work.

We hope you find this information helpful and we look forward to working with you and supporting you in the progression of your PMBs through the Houses.

Mellissa English, B.L.,Chief Parliamentary Legal Adviser & Assistant Secretary General

July 2019

Private Members’ Bills Legal AdviserSinéad O’Brien

01 618 4274

Parliamentary Legislative Drafter

Kieran Mooney01 618 4153

Parliamentary and Corporate Legal Adviser

Ramona Quinn01 618 3112

Chief Parliamentary Legal Adviser

Mellissa English 01 618 3644

Oifig na gComhairleoirí Dlí Parlaiminteacha The Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers (OPLA)

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Initial research

Development of the policy proposal

Drafting your Bill and amendments to it

Step1

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Assistance with pre-Committee Stage

Scrutiny of your Bill

The 4 Steps of the OPLA’s PMB ServiceThe OPLA is available to work in conjunction with you, on a confidential basis, in relation to proposals you have for a PMB. The process will involve you working closely with a Legal Adviser and a Drafter to formulate your proposal and ensure that any draft Bill accurately reflects your policy intention.

In general, the progress of working with the OPLA will follow the following four steps, which are explained in more detail in this Guide.

Settle on a policy proposal and, together with any research materials, refer your proposal to the OPLA.

Detailed legal research will be conducted by the OPLA. If policy research is required the OPLA will commission this on your behalf from the Library & Research Services.

A Legal Adviser will be assigned and will meet with you and/or your assistants to develop clear and concise drafting instructions and to identify whether any potential legal and/or policy issues need further development/clarity.

When the Legal Adviser is satisfied that the instructions for the proposed Bill are adequate to enable drafting to commence, you will be assigned a Drafter who will draft your PMB.

If you require legal advice/assistance in respect of amendments you wish to make to your Bill at Committee or Report Stages, the Legal Adviser and/or Drafter assigned will assist you.

After your Bill completes Second Stage in the Dáil and if requested by you, the Legal Adviser and/or Drafter assigned to your Bill, as appropriate, can assist you at pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny of your Bill.

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Initial research will assist you in developing an evidenced-based background for your policy objective and help you to clearly identify the outcome that you wish your policy to achieve.

Background research, where possible, may include:

� Information on the policy framework behind your proposal;

� Information about the current legal position;

� Consideration of how your PMB could bring about change in this policy area; and

� Where relevant, a comparative analysis of approaches taken in other jurisdictions.

When you have a settled policy proposal in mind you should refer the proposal, together with any research materials, to the OPLA. We are available to work with you to clarify your policy objective and we will undertake detailed legal research on your behalf. If policy research is required the OPLA will commission this on your behalf from our colleagues in the Library & Research Services.

The OPLA will assign a Legal Adviser to you. The Legal Adviser will meet with you (and your assistant) to develop clear and concise drafting instructions and to identify and resolve with you any potential legal issues that may arise.

The Legal Adviser assigned will work with you to understand your policy proposal and carry out a legal analysis of your proposal, including the consideration of:

� whether the proposal is compatible with the Constitution;

� whether the proposal is compatible with European Union law (including the Charter on Fundamental Rights) and the European Convention on Human Rights;

� where relevant, whether the proposal is compatible with the State’s obligations under the Aarhus or other Conventions;

� whether there are ambiguities that could lead to the proposal not achieving its intended policy objectives;

� whether there are any potential unintended legal consequences which may stem from the proposal.

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Initial research

Development of the policy proposal

The Legal Adviser will work with you to produce a constitutionally and otherwise legally sound proposal, which can then be drafted as a PMB.

When you and the Legal Adviser assigned to your proposed Bill are satisfied that the instructions for it are adequate to enable drafting to commence, a Drafter will be assigned to work on your Bill.

As the sponsor of the proposed Bill you (and your assistant) may need to meet with the Drafter. Except with straightforward single issue Bills, most Bills will go through several drafts before being finalised by the Drafters. Each of these drafts will need to be examined and discussed with you (and/or your assistant), either by email or at meetings, depending on the nature of the Bill and the issues involved or outstanding.

Where your PMB has been settled by the OPLA, we can also assist you with the preparation of a technical summary of the Bill’s provisions for incorporation into the Explanatory Memorandum.

Unless your PMB receives a waiver from the Business Committee all PMBs passing Second Stage in the Dáil must undergo pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny before proceeding to Committee Stage1. The Legal Adviser and/or Drafter assigned can provide you with legal advice throughout the pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny.

Where a Committee seeks legal advice during the pre-Committee Stage Scrutiny process the OPLA will assign to the Committee a separate and independent Legal Adviser who has had no involvement with your PMB.

1 Dáil Standing Orders 141 and 148B

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Step4 Assistance with pre-Committee

Stage scrutiny of your Bill

Step3 Drafting your Bill

and amendments to it

The OPLA is available to assist you as your Bill progresses through the legislative process. In particular we can:

� Advise you when a Committee is scrutinising your PMB, and

� Provide legal advice and/or drafting services in relation to Committee or Report Stage amendments which you, as sponsoring Member, wish to propose or support.

Where a Bill is settled by the OPLA, we will provide you with verification that the Bill was drafted and settled by us. However, if you change a Bill that was settled by the OPLA, without clearing the changes with us, the verification will no longer be valid and we may not be in a position to assist you further with the Bill as it progresses through the Houses.

Where you accept Government amendments please bring them to our attention as soon as possible.

Subject to your consent, we can provide legal advice or drafting services to the member who is sponsoring your PMB when the Bill is going through the other House.

Each Bill proposal and policy will be different and involves its own timeline from a legal or drafting perspective. It is impossible to give a definitive timeline as to how long it will take to provide legal advice or to draft a Bill on your behalf. However, factors that can impact upon the timeline include:

� The size and complexity of your proposed Bill;

� The extent to which your policy proposal has been fully thought through and the background information that is available;

� Whether legal or policy issues need to be worked through prior to drafting instructions being prepared;

� The extent to which, if any, there is a need for consequential amendments or transitional provisions to be drafted for your proposed Bill.

You are under no obligation to use the services offered by the OPLA. You can draft a PMB yourself or have it otherwise drafted for you.

The OPLA would welcome the opportunity to provide legal advice and/or drafting services to you in relation to draft Bills that you been working on. However, we are not in a position to assist you in relation to a Bill that is on the Order Paper but in respect of which we have not provided a full drafting service.

By engaging with the OPLA it will be presumed, unless you advise otherwise, that we can liaise with our colleagues in the Bills Office, on a confidential basis, in relation to your Bill proposal. We can do this in conjunction with you or on your behalf.

Any engagement with the Bills Office is to scope out and test if your policy proposal is likely to be in compliance with Standing Orders. However, as the sponsoring Member, you will need to submit your Bill when it is finalised to the Bills Office for examination for compliance with Standing Orders, and for onward submission to the Ceann Comhairle/Cathaoirleach for decision. The Bills Office will scrutinise your Bill in its final form in the normal way.

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Your Bill and compliance with Standing Orders

Important to note

How long will it take to provide legal advice or draft a Bill?

Client confidentialityThe OPLA will keep confidential the fact that we are working with you in relation to a PMB policy proposal, unless you permit otherwise. Any documents held by us in relation to advices or drafts of your Private Members’ Bill will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed except with your permission or otherwise in accordance with the law.

As with research undertaken by the legal profession generally, research undertaken by the OPLA as part of legal advice, the legal policy development, and/or drafting process on a proposed Bill may, subject to not impinging on client confidentiality, be re-used in appropriate circumstances by the OPLA in the provision of other advice or drafting.

Contact the OPLAThe Office of Parliamentary Legal AdvisersHouses of the OireachtasLeinster HouseDublin 2D02 XR20

Disclaimer:

This document has been prepared by The Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers (OPLA) for use by the Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas to aid them in their parliamentary duties. The OPLA is available to discuss the contents of this document with Members and their staff.

Published June 2019

Phone: 01 618 3657

Email: OPLA@oireachtas.ie

www.oireachtas.ie/OPLA

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