Very soon, Ireland’s upper class will be able to eat oatmeal and potatoes again, the country will no longer be at war with Denmark, and the first Wednesday of every month won’t be devoted to fasting for relief of those afflicted with the bubonic plague.
The Ireland described above may not be the Ireland you know, but it is Ireland according to the word of law.
Not for much longer.
In what will be “the largest repealing measure” in the history of the Irish state, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is seeking to officially overturn some 4,500 laws signed into effect between 1660 and 1820.
Some of the more interesting laws up for repeal include:
A January 21, 1661 proclamation ordering “a day of humiliation on 30 January 1661, the anniversary of the execution of Charles I.”
A proclamation “prohibiting assemblies of papists, Presbyterians, independents and others” from January 1661.
A proclamation "prohibiting drunkenness, cursing, swearing and profaning of the Lords' Day,” February 1661.
An April 1665 proclamation “appointing the first Wednesday of every month as a day of fasting and humiliation on account of the plague in London.”
Declarations of war against Denmark in 1666 and against France in 1744.
A proclamation for “a public thanksgiving in England and Ireland” on November 27, 1815.
An 1817 proclamation reserving oatmeal and potatoes for consumption by the “lower orders of people.”
The laws will be under review by the department’s Statute Law Revision Program until October 15, at which point a Statute Law Revision Bill will be issued to overturn the rulings that are no longer relevant.
For more information, or to see the full list of laws up for review, click here.
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