Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I do not disagree with the Deputy but we should be clear about it. There are three areas to be considered. There is no problem with regard to the drafting of statutory instruments being done outside the Office of the Attorney General, provided the drafting is done by people recommended by that office and who are seen as competent to provide the quality of drafting desired.

The Office of the Attorney General believes there is merit in the heads of Bills being drafted by people with legal qualifications in the various Departments. There are a number of such people in the top six Departments competent to draft heads of Bills and the explanatory matters surrounding them. There are some outside the Departments who have also done such work. My understanding is that such work is far better done within the office than outside it.

On the outside work — and the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority Bill 2003 was an enormous Bill — the office of the Parliamentary Counsel states that the distinction between a Bill and the heads of a Bill is important in the context of the Cabinet and Oireachtas procedures, as it sees them, and that the heads of a Bill are merely an outline of the policy objectives a Department wishes to achieve. The office of the Parliamentary Counsel holds the view that it is not involved in the preparation of the heads of Bills because policy formulation is a matter for Departments. If the policy formulation of the heads of a Bill is drawn up either inside or outside the office, the office of the Parliamentary Counsel lives with that. Without putting a tooth in it, that office would say that when one goes further than that, the quality of the work done by those outside is not up to a penny. I know there are people outside who will argue that it would say that, but in fairness to the people in the office of the Parliamentary Counsel, many of whom are beyond retirement age and many of whom have expertise both in this country and outside it, they do a specialist job. They do not believe we can give the work out.

Over the years I have asked why that is the case, and I am sure Deputy Rabbitte has experience of this too. While somebody can draft a Bill and even draft a Bill from the heads of a Bill, that does not give us the legislation. A parliamentary draftsperson must go back to God knows when — perhaps to the 1940s — to check the compatibility of the Bill with legislation in the 1940s, maybe with a Bill in the 1950s, amending legislating in the 1960s and perhaps cross reference the Bill with a Finance Act. The office feels that outside people do not do that to any quality. Experience over a long period and with many Attornies General seems to vindicate their position.

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