I move:
That Standing Order No. 45 of the Standing Orders relative to Public Business be amended by the deletion of `A Parliamentary Secretary who is not a member of the Seanad' and the substitution of `A Parliamentary Secretary or Attorney General who is a member of the Dáil'.
This is a proposed amendment of Standing Order No. 45 for the purpose of allowing audience here to the Attorney General. Standing Order No. 45 at the moment deals only with the position of Parliamentary Secretaries. It reads:
A Parliamentary Secretary who is not a member of the Seanad may attend and be heard during the different stages of any Bill or the debate on any other matter.
Members will be aware that we already had a Bill which was dealt with by the Attorney General in the Dáil when the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was being established. Because there was no right of audience here it was necessary for the Minister for Lands to deal with it in this House. The Attorney General has dealt with the Law Reform Commission Bill in the Dáil and it was suggested that we might make provision so that he could deal with it here. The general thinking which was agreed on both sides was that, rather than make an ad hoc arrangement for the Attorney General to deal with a particular Bill at particular times, so long as the Attorney General is a Member of the other House we should amend the Standing Order to permit him the same right of audience as Parliamentary Secretaries. Ministers have a Constitutional right to be heard in either House. The proposal in this motion is designed for that purpose.