Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a further question on the targets. In his paper, Mr. Linehan said the weight of legal opinion before the UK committee was that a target is not legally binding, but is equated with the creation of a legal duty, and that is the position if a Minister uses his or her best objectives to achieve that duty. Am I correct in interpreting Mr. Linehan's statement in that way - that, in law, targets cannot or will not be legally binding?

I think we will have to leave the other question about the Attorney General's advice. Perhaps we could put it on the agenda for discussion another day to see how we will deal with it. As regards setting targets, if there is a hindrance to us doing so as a committee then we need to know about it. If we cannot get the Attorney General's advice, we will need separate legal advice on it. There is no point in discussing targets without knowing where we stand legally. We cannot recommend it if it is not legally possible, so we will need advice on that.