Interpretation Act 2005 section 23

Duties under enactments

Section 23 clarifies how duties imposed by legislation are to be carried out, both in terms of timing and by whom.

• A duty created by legislation is not a one-off obligation — it must be carried out whenever the circumstances requiring it arise.
• There is no need for the legislation to state explicitly that a duty is ongoing; it is automatically treated as recurring.
• Where a duty is placed on a particular office holder (such as the Revenue Commissioners or a company secretary), it passes automatically to whoever holds that office at the relevant time.
• This means there is no gap in responsibility when an office holder changes — the new holder inherits the duty immediately.