I am aware that the Constitutional Review Group, on which the Deputy's party was represented by a very eminent barrister, also considered the further question the Deputy has raised concerning the accountability of the Attorney General. I wish to quote again from their report. They found that:
The Attorney General's relationship to the Government, being that of lawyer to client, should entail no accountability to the Houses of the Oireachtas. Accountability for advice and action on it should be through the Taoiseach as specified in the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924. The Taoiseach should decide how much or how little he or she reveals of the advice, as in any other lawyer client relationship.
That is not my finding but the finding of the group. The Government is considering the matter independently. We will obviously take account of the very clear recommendation by this independent review group, which is representative of a wide range of expert opinion, that the present practice should not be changed.
When a Member of the Deputy's party occupied the office I now occupy and questions about changes of this nature were suggested to him, he made it quite clear that he did not believe any such change should be made. However, so far as this matter and any other matters in this report are concerned, the Government is happy to have them discussed in the all-party committee. I have no doubt that members of the all-party committee who do not agree with the review group's findings will be able to argue their point of view in the committee. That is probably the best way to proceed rather than attempting at Question Time to do the committee's job in advance, although I have no doubt they will be taking note both of the Deputy's comments and my own.