Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Can I take from the Taoiseach's reply that the Office of the Attorney General does not approve of outsourcing, and on an individual basis is not asked for its approval in advance of outsourcing? When legislation which has been outsourced is returned in draft form, is the Taoiseach satisfied there is a sufficient number of staff to make sure it does not progress in a flawed state? I think his colleague, the Leader of the Seanad, Senator O'Rourke, referred to the State Airports Bill as legally flawed and suggested that it had been drafted outside the House — by a leading firm of solicitors — and that that might be one of the reasons. This indicates that there may be a problem of staffing in the office of the Attorney General.

The Taoiseach said previously in a reply that there were seven vacancies. Can he give us an up-to-date position since four vacancies on the drafting side were referred to? There was an 8% increase in the Estimates for staffing. Is that one of the areas the Taoiseach proposes to resolve because it may put an end to outsourcing if there is an adequate number of staff in-house?

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