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23 2005

Interpretation Act 2005

PART 3

Citation and Operation of Enactments

Judicial notice.

13. —An Act is a public document and shall be judicially noticed.

Citation and references to amended enactments.

14. —(1) An Act may be cited in any enactment or other document—

(a) by the long title or short title of the Act,

(b) where appropriate, by the consecutive number of the Act in the calendar year and by the calendar year in which it was passed, or

(c) where the Act was passed prior to the enactment of the Constitution of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Eireann) Act 1922, by its regnal year and chapter number and, where there was more than one parliamentary session in the same regnal year, by reference to the session concerned.

(2) A citation of or a reference to an enactment shall be read as a citation of or reference to the enactment as amended (including as amended by way of extension, application, adaptation or other modification of the enactment), whether the amendment is made before, on or after the date on which the provision containing the citation or reference came into operation.

(3) In citing—

(a) an Act by its short title, or

(b) any other enactment by its citation (if any),

a comma immediately before a reference to a year and a comma immediately after such a reference that is not required for the purpose of punctuation may be omitted.

Date of passing of Acts of Oireachtas.

15. —(1) The date of the passing of an Act of the Oireachtas is the date of the day on which the Bill for the Act is signed by the President.

(2) Immediately after the Bill for an Act of the Oireachtas is signed by the President, the Clerk of Dáil Éireann shall endorse on the Act immediately after the long title the date of the passing of the Act, and that date shall be taken to be part of the Act.

Commencement.

16. —(1) Subject to subsection (2), every provision of an Act comes into operation on the date of its passing.

(2) Where an Act or a provision of an Act is expressed to come into operation on a particular day (whether the day is before or after the date of the passing of the Act and whether the day is named in the Act or is to be fixed or ascertained in a particular manner), the Act or provision comes into operation at the end of the day before the particular day.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), every provision of a statutory instrument comes into operation at the end of the day before the day on which the statutory instrument is made.

(4) Where a statutory instrument or a provision of a statutory instrument is expressed to come into operation on a particular day (whether the day is before or after the date of the making of the statutory instrument and whether the day is named in the instrument or is to be fixed or ascertained in a particular manner), the statutory instrument or provision comes into operation at the end of the day before the particular day.

Exercise of statutory powers before commencement of Act.

17. —Where an Act or a provision of an Act is expressed to come into operation on a day subsequent to the date of the passing of the Act, the following provisions apply:

(a) if the day on which the Act or the provision comes into operation is to be fixed or ascertained in a particular manner, the statutory instrument, act or thing whereby the day is fixed or ascertained may, subject to any restriction imposed by the Act, be made or done at any time after the passing of the Act;

(b) if, for the purposes of the Act or the provision, the Act confers a power to make a statutory instrument or do any act or thing, the making or doing of which is necessary or expedient to enable the Act or provision to have full force and effect immediately on its coming into operation, the power may, subject to any restriction imposed by the Act, be exercised at any time after the passing of the Act.