Vol. 571 No. 1
1211 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he absented himself from discussions around the actual drafting of the legislation aimed at imposing fines on members of the Garda Síochána who leak details on cases to the media. [20719/03]
The standard practice for Government sponsored legislation is that the initial preparation of the draft general scheme of a Bill is carried out by departmental officials at the direction of the appropriate Minister. The scheme when approved by Government is then forwarded to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, which falls under the responsibility of the Attorney General, for drafting. This practice is being followed for the Garda Síochána Bill, and as sponsoring Minister I discussed the issues involved with my officials and my Cabinet colleagues. I am not aware of any basis for suggesting that normal practices should not be followed in the drafting of this Bill.
The preliminary draft scheme of the Garda Síochána Bill was made available to the public earlier this year and comments invited so that all points of view can be considered before the drafting of the Bill is finalised.
