Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Does the Deputy want to know the truth? This is an important point because it shows how I act very quickly when issues of this kind arise.

The senior counsel wrote a note and it was passed to me by an official in the Department of Health and Children. This was the Dame Street case as I recollect, although I am open to correction. He wrote in the note that he had to let me know that it was his view that these regulations were ultra vires. As soon as I got that hand written note, I said to the official concerned that I wanted the Attorney General's view on this immediately. We got an opinion from the Attorney General that was emphatic and absolute in its confirmation of the view of the senior counsel.

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