Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will go as far as it takes to vindicate the position. We believe we have both the legal right and authority to do exactly what we have been doing since the first PSC was issued in 2011.

It is probably standard practice for most Departments to have in-house legal advisers. We have two and both are barristers who have been seconded from the Attorney General's office. They reside in the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection but they are staff of the Attorney General's office.

We did not ask formal questions. We gave the final report to the Attorney General and this is exactly the same as when we consulted extensively when we got the draft report in November 2018. In the preparation of the response to the draft report, both the Attorney General's office and officials from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform would have been heavily involved. I did not ask about qualifications in the Office of the Attorney General. It is an established authority that has been around since the foundation of the State. It is there to advise Governments on how they should run their business.