I propose to take Questions Nos. 295 and 323 together.
Since the general election of 2002, a barrister-at-law was engaged in November 2003 by my Department to draft a statutory instrument to transpose a European Commission directive at a cost of €1,815, to be paid in 2004. Further work on the drafting was required subsequent to the barrister's submission of a completed draft. The barrister in question was engaged in line with the Government policy that outsourcing of the transposition of EU directives could be considered favourably, in order to ensure the transposition of directives which were outstanding prior to the commencement of the Irish Presidency. There is no legislation being drafted on behalf of my Department by firms of solicitors outside the Office of the Attorney General. I currently have no plans for outsourcing of legislative work to private legal firms. It is not the general policy to engage legal firms outside of the Office of the Attorney General in the drafting of legislation.
However, a number of situations have arisen in the past where particular circumstances required the use of outside legal assistance, in particular during the development of draft heads of Bills. Since 2001, for example, external legal advisers were appointed, following a competitive tendering process, to carry out research for and otherwise assist my Department in relation to the establishment of a single financial regulator, including drafting the heads of a Bill. The view of the Office of the Attorney General was sought before the tender process was commenced, and that office confirmed that it had no objection to the proposal to appoint legal advisers.
As Deputies will be aware, heads of a Bill are submitted in the normal course through the Attorney General to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel so that the Bill may be drafted. It was on the basis of heads produced with the assistance of external legal expertise that the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel drafted the relevant legislation which eventually became the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Act 2003.
The drafting during 2002 of heads for the unclaimed life assurance policies legislation subsequently enacted in 2003 also benefited from external legal assistance. This too was sought only after consultation with the Office of the Attorney General. I should say that in this case an invoice for €60,500 was paid in late 2002, which related to work done during 2002, including the period of 2002 prior to June of that year.
