Over 2,000 Acts, all more than 200 years old, will be repealed following a consultation process, the Taoiseach has said.
The two-month process began yesterday with newspaper advertisements. Interested individuals or organisations will be told how to get information on the laws to be repealed, and how to make their views known.
Following the consultation, a Statute Law Revision (pre-Union) Bill will be published, listing the Acts, all predating the Act of Union, to be repealed. Further Bills to repeal unnecessary pre-1922 legislation are envisaged after this has been enacted.
The proposal to repeal the pre-Act of Union legislation is part of a rolling programme to review and overhaul the Irish Statute Book, Bertie Ahern says.
"Last December the Statute Law Revision (pre-1922) Act repealed 206 pieces of obsolete primary legislation that predated the foundation of the State, but which still remained on the Irish Statute Book," he said. "The second phase in the project will aim to remove over 2,000 Acts from the Statute Book.
"This will be the single largest body of legislation to be repealed in this way in the history of the State, so it is important the public have an opportunity to become involved in this project and to see what we propose to repeal.
"It is the intention that all legislation that predates the foundation of the State will be repealed, and where we do need to retain any pre-1922 legislation, we will re-enact it in a more modern form."
