Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Taoiseach said the adviser in the Attorney General's office attends the weekly Government programme managers' and senior political advisers' meetings. It is well-known those meetings are of a political troubleshooting role.

For example, if the report the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, received from Professor Brennan on the Dublin Docklands Development Authority were likely to be politically troublesome to a Minister or Ministers, would that political difficulty be flagged by the respective adviser to the Minister or Ministers concerned for the Attorney General's adviser? Presumably, he or she in turn would flag it for the Attorney General. Would that be part of the adviser's role? If so, where would that leave the independent - if one could call it that - role and function of the Attorney General in providing advice to the Government on such matters?

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