Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The problem is with suitable staff. In the last Public Appointments Commission interviews for assistant Parliamentary Counsel in December, there were five vacancies. Three candidates will take up office from this. Only three qualified in the previous competition, of which two took up office in mid to late 2006. I am informed this is not unusual. In the last competition across the water, 359 applications were made for the Parliamentary Counsel recruitment scheme but only seven applicants were successful and up to the required standard. We did well to get three suitable candidates in the last round. Each time the problem is getting people of sufficient competence and standing to take it forward.

The committee, chaired by the Government Chief Whip, is responsible for the legislative programme. Senior officials from the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Office of the Attorney General are on the committee and consult all relevant Departments.

Before the general election a large number of Bills were completed and people worked to the end position. Obviously, the programme for Government took up much time in the autumn before much of the legislation was enacted. There are a large number of Bills coming through. In fairness to the Parliamentary Counsel staff, they had to deal with the immigration Bill, which is a very large Bill, the Finance Bill, the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill. A large number of other Bills are coming through, such as on health and retirement, and they have taken up much time.

When a large Bill is being prepared, it is allocated to one dedicated person in the Parliamentary Counsel office who is then out of the equation as regards other legislation. There are also statutory instruments. While it is a busy office, it is difficult to get the necessary people to do the work. We are fairly well up to full numbers in the office and we will be down to two vacancies in a few weeks' time.

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