Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach said he has no plans for fundamental reform of the Office of the Attorney General. I ask that the Taoiseach look at the Bill my colleague, Deputy Nash, and I drafted to reform the Office of the Attorney General. The Bill in question is currently with the Bills Office for review. In it, we propose several much-needed changes to the Office of the Attorney General. First, the Attorney General would be required to have regard to the overall public interest, not just the narrower legal interests of the specific Government of the day. Second, our Bill would enable the publication of the Attorney General's advice in certain circumstances. While we accept that legal professional privilege properly attaches to advice given to the Government for the purpose of litigation - the Taoiseach outlined specific cases against his Department - we do not see any reason why it should not be published when it refers to public policy matters or legislation. For example, in the coming weeks, the Government will make a decision on extending the eviction ban. The Taoiseach confirmed to me earlier that decision will be made by St. Patrick's Day. I think the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, indicated that the Attorney General is being consulted about it. That is the sort of legal advice from the Attorney General that could be published because it will help us frame debates on the eviction ban and whether or not it should be extended.

Our Bill would also incorporate rules adopted from Australia for the State to act as a model litigant. We see increasing interest in this concept of model litigation strategy and requiring states to act as model litigants. We have seen too much pain and trauma caused to so many people as a result of the stance taken by the State over many decades in cases such as that involving illegal nursing home charges. In that context, it is time to take an open view on the reform of the Office of the Attorney General. It is disappointing to hear the Taoiseach say that he has no plans to do so. I ask him to look at our Bill favourably once it is introduced.

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