The Genealogy and Heraldry Bill 2006 was a private member's bill

Private Member's Bill

A member of parliament’s legislative motion, called a private member's bill or a member's bill in some parliaments, is a proposed law introduced by a member of a legislature. In most countries with a parliamentary system, most bills are proposed by the government, not by individual members of the...

 introduced in Seanad Éireann

Seanad Éireann

Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas , which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann . It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its members Senators or Seanadóirí . Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by...

 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

Genealogical Society of Ireland

Genealogical Society of Ireland is a voluntary non-governmental organisation promoting the study of genealogy, heraldry, vexillology and social history in Ireland and amongst the Irish Diaspora as open access educational leisure pursuits available to all...

 (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

Adjournment debate

In the Westminster system, an adjournment debate is a debate on the motion, "That this House do now adjourn." In practice, this is a way of enabling the House to have a debate on a subject without considering a substantive motion.- Types of debate :...

in 1995, and was amended by the National Cultural Institutions Act, 1997, legislation which the GSI regards as flawed.

External links