Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister for Defence do on occasion agree with each other. The list of legislation the Deputy received from the Department of Defence was a reasonable list and not excessive. Given the manner in which the Deputy phrased the question and the amount of legislation for which the Department of Justice and Equality is responsible, the amount of time it would take to trawl every relevant tranche of legislation relating to the Department of Justice and Equality would be extraordinary. I am keen that my Departments facilitate Deputies as best they can. In the area of defence, it was a more straightforward matter but, strictly speaking, neither Department is obliged to respond to a question of that nature.

I imagine the Deputy will appreciate that it was not out of any discourtesy to him and I imagine also the Deputy will appreciate that if Members were to pose questions asking the Minister to list all the legislation relevant to a particular matter, then the time of officials could be taken up to an extraordinary degree in simply listing legislation. God help them if one tranche of legislation was missed and the Deputies on the other side of the House were to criticise them. It was not out of any discourtesy. On the defence side, it was an easier matter to deal with but, strictly speaking, I understand it was not an appropriate question to table.

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