Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. It is an unprecedented number of advisers. I would say it is the highest in the history of the State. When the Taoiseach was in opposition he asked an awful lot of questions, as did his colleagues, as to why they were all required. The Taoiseach has gone and beaten the record. It includes 16 names, as the Taoiseach has outlined, I do not believe that this includes some other drivers. On top of that there are other offices. If you add in those who are working in secretarial roles, assistant roles, driver roles, and the Government press secretaries and advisers to the Attorney General etc., how many are there in total? This is so we can clearly see what the overall cost is. I have a cost of €3 million per year. Is that accurate? Is there a system of reviewing how this is performing? Surely the Taoiseach has some system of managing it and looking at the performance. It is a significant cost. Perhaps the Taoiseach would outline to us what this is.

Will the Taoiseach confirm that every aspect of all of the communications from all of these advisers, including WhatsApp, emails, messages, voice notes, and other electronic messages, is available under freedom of information and under parliamentary questions?

I was very intrigued by the announcement made by the Taoiseach at the end of September on the comprehensive review of Irish planning legislation, which is to be led by the Attorney General. In principle, the review of planning legislation is something I welcome. I did a review of An Bord Pleanála a number of years ago. It is intriguing that this proposed review is to be led by the Attorney General. Is this in accordance with the Cabinet handbook? What is the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, whose remit covers planning, responsible for? Why is he not leading this review ? Why is the Attorney General leading it? What resources are being put into the review and how many people are involved? What are the costs of it? Have additional resources been provided? There are three special advisers in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Department that covers planning. Are they involved in this review or are their roles being duplicated? Why was the Minister with responsibility for planning not in charge of this? Why is the Attorney General in charge of this? The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage decides what legislation he or she wants. The Minister is in charge of policy, not the Attorney General. The Attorney General is not the policy chief. He advises the Government legally, so why is he leading on this? Is this a dangerous precedent? Has the Taoiseach seen this before? I admit that Attorneys General always advise legally, but they do not lead on policy. How is it that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, who is responsible for planning, is being absolutely bypassed here and a role is being set up for the Attorney General to do this when in reality it should be a member of the Government who has responsibility for it?

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