10 Deputy Eamon Gilmore asked the Taoiseach the reason recruitment to the position of advisory counsel in the Office of the Attorney General is restricted to barristers and the reason, in particular solicitors, are excluded, having regard to the fact that solicitors are now eligible for appointment as Judges of the High Court and Supreme Court; if he plans to review this practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46960/10]

11 Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Taoiseach the criteria for recruitment to the position of advisory counsel in the office of the Attorney General. [1133/11]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 11 together.

Recruitment competitions for positions as advisory counsel are run by the Public Appointments Service. For the most recent competition, in June 2008, the essential requirements for candidates were to have been called to the Bar of Ireland; since qualification, to have significant experience as a barrister practising in the State; to have an ability to analyse and advise, orally and in writing, on complex legal issues; to have a good knowledge of constitutional, European and administrative law; to have advocacy and litigation skills, sound judgment and the ability to work under pressure; and to possess the requisite knowledge and capability, including the ability to communicate effectively, to discharge the duties of the position.

I am advised by the Attorney General that the approach to recruitment which has consistently been taken by successive Attorneys General reflects the need of the Attorney General's office to have available to it the broad range of skills and expertise required to enable the Attorney General to discharge his constitutional functions as adviser of the Government in matters of law and legal opinion. This recruitment approach ensures that the office avails of the particular skills and expertise offered by the two branches of the legal profession, namely solicitors and barristers. The allocation of functions within the office reflects the reality that the legal profession is divided, that the two branches of the profession perform generally different functions and that both branches of the profession offer different sets of skills and expertise reflecting different systems of education and training, both of which are required by the office.

This distinction is also mirrored in restricting to solicitors recruitment to all legal positions in the Chief State Solicitor's office. Some 113 positions in the Chief State Solicitor's office are restricted to solicitors while only 35 positions as advisory counsel in the Attorney General's office, and the 14 advisory counsel seconded from that office to Departments are confined to barristers. Positions as Parliamentary Counsel — legal drafters — in the Attorney General's office are open to and held by barristers and solicitors.

Under Article 30 of the Constitution the Attorney General is required to advise the Government in matters of law and legal opinion. The current Attorney General and his predecessors believe that the constitutional obligation is best discharged by ensuring that the position of advisory counsel is occupied by lawyers who have been trained in and have significant practice and experience of conducting trials in the courts. A core function of advisory counsel involves the handling of, and providing advice relating to, litigation against the State. In particular, barristers, by virtue of their professional training and experience as barristers, have specialist knowledge and skills in presenting legal arguments to the courts and assessing and advising on evidential issues relating to court proceedings, and they have empirical knowledge of the multiplicity of factors that affect the outcome of litigation.

Whereas advisory counsel also provide specialist advice on matters which may not involve, or have the potential to involve, litigation, it is a core function of every advisory counsel to advise on litigation and litigation-related issues. In addition, barristers in practice give specialised legal opinions and advice and such advisory work is also a core function of advisory counsel in the Attorney General's office. Such opinions and advice are at the request of a briefing solicitor and are sought because the solicitor recognises the special expertise of the barrister in such matters. The fact that solicitors may be appointed judges does not mean that the role of advisory counsel should be open to solicitors.

The EU-IMF memorandum of agreement indicates that the Government agreed to introduce legislative changes to remove restrictions to trade and competition in the sheltered sections, including the legal profession, establishing an independent regulator for the profession and implementing the recommendations of the legal costs working group and outstanding Competition Authority recommendations. Prior to the negotiations with the EU and IMF, had the Government already decided to introduce such legislative changes? Will the Taoiseach give us a brief summary of that?

The Deputy is expanding the scope of the question.

This relates to the topic and area of legal changes.

It is a confined question.

Will the Taoiseach indicate the envisaged changes in the legal profession?

I will have to check that. What is involved is further consideration of reforms that would help in reducing professional costs in order to make the sector more efficient and effective. I will have to get back to the Deputy on the timing of those issues.

What about the Competition Authority's recommendations from several years ago? Nothing has been done about them.

The director general and the deputy director general in the Office of the Attorney General are both advisory counsel. How many advisory counsel are working within the Office of the Attorney General under each of the three different grades, with grade 1 as assistant secretary, grade 2 as principal officer and grade 3 as assistant principal officer? I may have the order in reverse. Has the Taoiseach, in his response, details of the number of people working as advisory counsel to the Attorney General in the course of carrying out of the function of legal adviser to the Cabinet?

In the main body of the reply I referred to the fact that there are 35 positions as advisory counsel in the Attorney General's office. I cannot provide specific grades if they apply but I will check that for the Deputy.

Will the Taoiseach furnish that detail with regard to each of the three grades applying within the office?

I will ask to see if the information is available and get it for the Deputy.

Did the Taoiseach have his tongue in his cheek in replying to the question? As a former solicitor, like me, did he not consider that the extent of appointments of barristers in the Attorney General's office over solicitors might have had something to do with the fact that the Attorney General of the State, to date, has always been a barrister? The approach would tend to——

The Deputy is straying from the matter.

From the perspective of recruitment, there would possibly be a tendency to focus on appointments from the barrister side of the profession as opposed to the solicitor side. Has any current assessment been done on a possible fusion of the two professions so that we could consider the possibility——

That is not contemplated by this question.

There could be a united profession in this country as there is in many other countries.

Both sides of the legal profession come with skill sets. As I stated, there are 113 solicitors in the Office of the Chief State Solicitor and 35 advisory counsel in the Office of the Attorney General who are barristers. For the purposes of legal drafting, traditional training would be more in line with the barrister profession than with the solicitor profession, although that is not exclusively the case. There is a case to be made for considering some reforms in this area and making some appointments — in both directions — to assist cross-pollination.

On the question of changes that need to be made and which are referred to in the EU-IMF plan, the plan indicates legislative changes that the Government will introduce to remove restrictions to trade and competition. Details regarding the legal profession would be by way of publication of proposals that in due course would be approved by Government in this area. The legal costs Bill will provide for better regulation of costs. It is also intended to establish a regulator to replace the Office of the Taxing Master. Consideration is being given in the legal costs Bill to the question generally of more independent regulation of the legal professions.

Written answers follow Adjournment debate.