Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Very little legislation is contracted out. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform does so because it has the lion's share of Bills every year. That must still be vetted and cleared before approval by the parliamentary counsel. One gains some time but it does not alleviate the workload of the Department. Very few other Departments contract out legislation and most of it is done within the Department. Only a small percentage is involved. I will check the exact figure but it could be different in any one year.

A programme is fixed every few years and the Law Reform Commission works very closely with and consults people in my Department. It reports on that work programme on an annual basis. There are normally six or seven items on priority that it works through. It then sets a new programme at the end of every third year.

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