We need answers from the Government about the quite incredible situation involving the Attorney General effectively double-jobbing, acting as legal adviser to the Government during the week while at the weekend, doing what appears to be a nixer for former Independent News & Media, INM, directors. This is the same Attorney General who provided legal advice against a ban on evictions and rent increases without following the legal requirement to submit, in writing, a declaration of a potential conflict of interest given that he has a property portfolio estimated to be worth up to €8.5 million. We know that the Attorney General was doing work for the INM directors just days before the Government said his private work had ceased.

I have a few questions for the Minister. First, when did Mr. Gallagher's private work cease? Second, can we see a full list of all of the private practice he engaged in while working as Attorney General? Third, on what basis did the Government agree to this arrangement?

I am not sure I will have time to answer all of those questions now but what I will say is that prior to his appointment in June 2020, the Attorney General disclosed to the Taoiseach that he had a few existing litigation commitments to complete, which he considered he had a professional obligation to discharge. The Taoiseach informed the other Government leaders prior to Mr. Gallagher's appointment. In the normal course of events, these private professional obligations would have been discharged in a short period following his appointment. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic there were exceptional delays in hearings of those aspects of the litigation in which the Attorney General was involved and it was not possible to discharge those obligations as early as anticipated. The Attorney General has no continuing private professional obligations, the last of which was scheduled to cease and did cease on 25 September 2021, on which date he discharged the last of his outstanding private professional obligations.