It is never enough because there are always Bills outstanding. There are approximately 100 Bills outstanding at present. I, and other Ministers, have outlined the difficulties over the years. The size of the office allows two or three draftsmen to be trained. It is always difficult to recruit draftsmen. Barristers and solicitors are eli gible to apply for the posts but they must also have a number of years experience and it takes almost five years to go through the system. Even if work is done in Departments – and increasingly, much of it is done in Departments – the Attorney General, like his predecessors, believes this work must be checked. The Attorney General and the parliamentary draftsman's office believe strongly that they must play a key role in this. Although parliamentary draftsmen are under pressure, when they are asked to provide legislation urgently they do so. The Social Welfare and Finance Bills, constitutional Bills and other urgent matters are dealt with. There is pressure on the office and there always will be.
The statute law revision section has opened and staff have been recruited for it, but unless one has an enormous office with a large number of staff, procedures cannot be quickened. It is difficult to recruit highly experienced draftsmen and that has always been the case.