Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The issue arose when the importance and sensitive nature of the case was not brought in a timely fashion to the attention of the Attorney General. Therefore, the question that arises is not in regard to the merits of the advices subsequently provided by the Attorney General or advisory counsel but in regard to the timeliness in this regard based on the fact that the system did not respond in the way one would have expected when this important and sensitive case arose. Amidst all this confusion, the matter went to court and was dealt with independently by the courts. There were lessons to be learned for the future to avoid a recurrence of the set of circumstances in which this issue arose from the Attorney General's knowledge of the stage the case was at and what was being done on an operational basis regarding it. This would have been one of hundreds of cases that would have been ongoing at any given time. Lessons must be learned from that and it is to the credit of the office that all the recommendations outlined in the report are being implemented. That is what the House would expect and I am glad to report that is the case.

On the wider issue of where there are often different points of views about the merits or otherwise of the advices of any particular legal officer, any government can only rely on, and is constitutionally required to deal with, advices based on the Attorney General's advice. Otherwise, one would get advices, and possibly contrary advices, from a range of people which would not necessary add to the coherence or understanding of the legal aspects of a particular decision that needed to be incorporated by Cabinet on a particular subject.

There are good reasons for that being the case. The independence of the Attorney General must be respected. His office is not a political office in that sense. He is a member of the Government but he retains that independent legal function. It serves Government well to have it that way. The matter for resolution in respect of advices he gives are resolved in the courts, not here. The advices he gives, for example, on the preparation of legislation are discussed here. There is good reason he is not brought to the centre of political controversy or debate and in that way politicisation of the office is avoided.

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