Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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That is a fair but complex question and I could not answer it with sufficient detail at this point. Drafters work within the wider Office of the Attorney General and the Government outlines priority Bills for drafting. It has been my experience that every Bill that comes through the Government is for priority drafting, which obviously puts pressure on drafters in respect of the allocation of time. Work takes place at the start of every term with the office of the Chief Whip to decide on the legislative programme, which was published last week for this Dáil term, and it sets out Bills for drafting as well as Bills for publication. I am not familiar in detail with the day-to-day ordering. A drafter is usually assigned to a particular Bill.

A drafter may have to take leave, and leave does get taken in July and August in almost all elements of the Oireachtas, as we know, so there is an element there. Sometimes drafters have to be taken from one Bill and applied to another if there is emergency legislation or the like. I do not claim enough expertise on the inner workings there to be able speak on it rather I am speaking at a high level.

I accept the Senator’s previous point on Seanad scrutiny. I would not be proposing this approach if I did not think it was necessary in order to secure the delivery of this legislation. If this Dáil and Seanad term ends without it being legislated for, the Senator’s Bill will fall. Assuming she is back in the next Seanad, it will have to commence again. Imperfect as the process is, I believe it is the best way of delivering the relevant legal prohibitions against NDAs that I think we all want to achieve.