Laws stating the Queen is the ruler of Ireland and that anyone selling horses outside greater Dublin shall be put to death are to be repealed, the Irish government has announced.

The ancient orders and proclamations remain on the Irish statute books and are being targeted in an epic clear-out of bizarre and obsolete legislation pre-dating independence. It is the largest repeal of outdated laws carried out in any country.

Among those to be revoked is a 1542 proclamation declaring that the English crown shall be "king of Ireland". An order from 1590 prohibiting the sale of horses out of the Pale - an area in the east ruled by the English -"upon pain of death" is also for the chop.

Ulster King Shane O'Neill will no longer be declared a traitor once a 1561 proclamation is repealed and Catholic proprietors will no more face removal to Connacht, as ordered in 1654.

The Statute Law Revision Bill 2015 will revoke 5,782 pre-independence regulations and orders.