Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I fully accept it in that spirit. I recheck any point raised. We would not propose anything that had not been stamped by the Attorney General. Any legislation comes with a stamped copy which shows that it is, on the advice of the Office of the Attorney General, constitutional. We would not propose it otherwise. By long-standing practice, it is not the norm to give the formal advice of the Attorney General to the Cabinet to anyone else. As the Deputy knows, constitutionally the Attorney General has two roles - to be the law officer to the Government and give formal advice, particularly on constitutional matters, to the Cabinet, and to protect the citizen in terms of constitutionality. No Attorney General is the legal adviser to the Oireachtas; it has its own legal advice available to it.