Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy can imagine, I will be engaging with the Attorney General as we seek to advance this general scheme.

In response to Deputy Stanley's request, that was the point I was making. In the previous Government, I had conversations about whether it was possible to move forward with an occupied territories Bill.

I accept that the line Deputy Murphy is quoting regarding political choice is accurate, but from being in the briefings with the Attorney General and hearing the now Taoiseach when he was in my role addressing the foreign affairs committee, it is the clear legal view of the Government that the current Bill would not have been legally permissible. That is genuinely the legal advice available to me.

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