asked the Taoiseach whether the Attorney General is permitted to carry on a private practice in addition to discharging his public office.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Position and Salary of Attorney General.
2.
The Attorney General is at liberty to engage in such private practice as may be compatible with the full and proper discharge of the duties of his office.
Does the Taoiseach not agree that it is very difficult, if not impossible, for the Attorney General to discharge competently his public functions at the same time as he is running a private practice? Does the Taoiseach not agree that the Attorney General's very costly and gross mishandling of the Singer case——
The Deputy may not go into that.
With regard to the question which the Deputy relevantly asked, it was the practice, until 1948, to require the Attorney General not to engage in private practice but the Government of that day, of which I think the Deputy was a member, decided to reverse that practice and to require the Attorney General to engage in private practice. That decision was again reversed in 1951, when Mr. de Valera resumed office as Taoiseach, but again in 1954 it was reversed and the practice established in 1954 still persists.
Is it the Taoiseach's contention that he must, as Taoiseach, be bound by the precedents of other Governments in this regard? Secondly, would the Taoiseach not agree that the case has been amply proven now, whatever about the precedents?
The Deputy is going into a matter outside the question.
The Taoiseach should now ask the Attorney General either to resign——
Deputies
Chair!
Deputy Dr. Browne is taking no notice of the Chair. The Chair will insist on its being taken notice of when speaking to a Deputy.
Surely that was a supplementary question?
It is not a relevant question.
I think it fair to remark in justification of the decision taken by the Government in 1948, of which the Deputy was a member, and of that taken by the subsequent Government of which Deputy J.A. Costello was the head in 1954, that the judges of the Courts have frequently expressed the view that it is desirable that the Attorney General should occasionally appear before them.
Does the mishandling of the Singer case not disprove their contention?
The Deputy's hands are too dirty to wash them in public.
In view of the difficulties which the Attorney General is experiencing in carrying out his two jobs at the one time, would the Taoiseach not consider asking the Attorney General to resign?
That is an entirely different matter.
I am sure the Deputy is delighted to have a new puddle to splash in.
3.
asked the Taoiseach the salary paid to the Attorney General by the State.
The annual salary paid to the Attorney General is £3,500.