Vol. 191 No. 2
asked the Taoiseach if any person appointed to the office of Attorney General from 1932 to 1948 received, and was permitted to receive, any fees derived from private practice, and, if so, to what amount were such fees received; and if those appointed to the said office after the first appointment in 1932 up to 1948 were prohibited by the terms of warrant of appointment or by any understanding from engaging in private practice.
3.
asked the Taoiseach if the present holder of the office of Attorney General on his previous appointment to that office in the years 1953-54 was prohibited by the terms of his warrant of appointment or by an understanding from engaging in private practice; if such prohibition was waived in respect of his present appointment; and, if so, for what reasons the prohibition was waived.
I propose, with your permission, Sir, to take Questions Nos. 1 and 3 together.
Since 1922 the position of the Attorney General in regard to (a) entitlement to retain fees for services as Attorney General and (b) liberty to engage in private practice has been as follows:
(a) Entitlement to retain fees for services as Attorney General.
According to the records of my Department the first five persons who held office as Attorney General were entitled to retain these fees as personal income. From the 22nd December, 1936, to the 18th February, 1948, the four persons who held office as Attorney General were required to surrender such fees to the Exchequer. From the 19th February, 1948, to the 29th January, 1954, the four persons who held office as Attorney General were entitled to retain these fees as personal income as was also the person who held office from the 2nd June, 1954, to the 20th March, 1957. The present Attorney General, both in respect of his appointment from the 30th January, 1954, to the 2nd June, 1954, and his present appointment from the 20th March, 1957, to date, has surrendered these fees to the Exchequer.
(b) Liberty to engage in private practice.
According to the records of my Department the six persons who held office as Attorney General from the 7th December, 1922, to the 1st March, 1940, were free to engage in private practice. The three persons who held office as Attorney General from the 2nd March, 1940, to the 18th February, 1948, were not entitled to do so. From the 19th February, 1948, to the 12th June, 1951, the two persons who held office as Attorney General were free to engage in private practice. The three persons who held office as Attorney General from the 14th June, 1951, to the 2nd June, 1954, were not entitled to engage in private practice. Since the 2nd June, 1954, the two persons who held office as Attorney General, including, the present holder, have been free to engage in private practice.
There are no official records which would enable me to state to what extent, if at all, such of the holders of the office of Attorney General as were free to do so did, in fact, engage in private practice—nor, of course, are there any official records of the amount of any fees they received for such work.
The then Taoiseach, in supplementary replies to a question addressed to him in this House on the 1st May, 1957, explained fully the considerations involved in the understanding relating to the question of engaging in private practice.
2.
asked the Taoiseach if he will state for each of the periods from the date of appointment of the present Attorney General in 1957 to the anniversary of that date in each year since and the broken period from the anniversary of that date in 1961 to the latest convenient date the full amounts of fees payable to and surrendered by the Attorney General in respect of (a) applications for fiats, (b) applications for letters patent, (c) private practice and (d) matters other than the preceding.
The fees paid to the Attorney General and surrendered by him to the Exchequer in respect of applications for fiats in the years ended the 19th March, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961 were six guineas, nine guineas, nine guineas and twenty-four guineas respectively. No fees have been paid to the Attorney General under that head since the 20th March, 1961, or under heads (b) and (d) of the question since the 20th March, 1957.
As regards head (c) of the question the Attorney General is not required to furnish details of his private practice nor to surrender to the Exchequer the fees derived by him from such private practice.
