Genealogy and Heraldry Bill 2006

The Genealogy and Heraldry Bill 2006 was a private member's bill introduced in Seanad Éireann by Brendan Ryan to reform the statuory basis for the office of Chief Herald of Ireland. The bill was drafted by Michael Merrigan, co-founder of the Genealogical Society of Ireland (GSI). The bill has its second reading in December 2006, but lapsed with the dissolution of the Dáil and Seanad for the 2007 election. The status of the herald's office had previously been the topic of an adjournment debate in 1995, and was amended by the National Cultural Institutions Act, 1997, legislation which the GSI regards as flawed.