I propose to take Questions Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 8 together.
The powers and functions of the Attorney General are set out at Article 30 of the Constitution and in the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924. The role of the Attorney General is to advise the Government in matters of law and legal opinion, and to this end, his Office comprises of a number of different functions in providing services to the Government.
A core function of the Attorney General’s office involves the handling of, and providing advice relating to, litigation involving the State. In such cases the instructing solicitor is the Chief State Solicitor. As the Deputy will appreciate there are very many such live cases and, as would be expected, the Attorney General has been personally involved in providing and approving advices in respect of these cases.
I would note that the Attorney General, in common with many of his predecessors, has personally represented the State in a number of cases before the courts since his appointment. The Attorney General had previously represented the State in a private capacity in the Apple tax case and he has continued to represent the State in this case since his appointment. He has also represented the State in the Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice since his appointment.
Prior to his appointment in June 2020, the Attorney General informed me and I informed the other leaders of the parties in Government that he had a small number of existing litigation commitments that he considered he had a professional obligation to discharge, and it was agreed that he would do so.
The Attorney General’s involvement in these matters dates back to 2011 in one case and 2017 in two others. The first matter related to the State recapitalisation of Irish Permanent. The Attorney General was involved in one hearing in that matter in November 2020 and his involvement ceased at that time. The second matter related to a commercial dispute and the Attorney General's involvement ceased in February 2021. The final matter related to the Inspectors investigation into certain matters relating to INM and involved a hearing on two Saturdays, 18 and 25 September 2021. The Attorney General's involvement in that matter ceased on 25 September.
In the normal course of events these private professional obligations would have been discharged in a short period of time following his appointment. However, due to the Covid pandemic there were exceptional delays in the hearings of those aspects of the litigation in which the Attorney General was involved, and it was not possible to discharge these obligations as early as anticipated.
While I have responsibility for answering questions on administrative matters connected with the Office of the Attorney General, I have no function in respect of the detail of the Attorney General’s professional engagements outside of his role as Attorney General. I would note also that the Attorney General is bound by a duty of confidentiality to his clients and that he has no continuing private professional obligations.
I would emphasise that I am fully satisfied no conflict of interest arises in this regard. Having acted in those three matters in a private capacity the Attorney General could never have acted for the State in these or any related matters. It is the long-standing practice that if an Attorney General has a conflict of interest in relation to any case, such cases are not dealt with by the Attorney General but rather they are advised on by the Director General of the Office of the Attorney General.