Rdxfbgrtj

Attorney General of Ireland
Coat of Arms of Ireland
Incumbent Séamus Woulfe since 14 June 2017
Office of the Attorney General
Nominator	Taoiseach
Appointer	President
Inaugural holder	Hugh Kennedy
Formation	31 January 1922
Website	www.attorneygeneral.ie

The Attorney General of Ireland (Irish: An tArd-Aighne) is a constitutional officer who is the legal adviser to the Government and is therefore the chief law officer of the State. The Attorney General is not a member of the Government but does participate in cabinet meetings when invited and attends government meetings. The current Attorney General is Séamus Woulfe, SC.

Mission

''The Mission of the Office of the Attorney General is to provide the highest standard of professional legal services to Government, Departments and Offices.''

Overview

The office and functions of the Attorney General are outlined in Article 30 of the Constitution of Ireland.

The Attorney General has always been a barrister rather than a solicitor, although this is not a requirement for the post. In cases where a barrister nominated by the Taoiseach to be the Attorney General was not a Senior Counsel at the time, the government of the day has made them one first, as occurred in the cases of John Rogers BL and John M. Kelly BL.

The Attorney General advises the Government on the constitutionality of bills and treaties, and presents the Government's case if the President refers any bill to the Supreme Court under Article 26 of the Constitution before signing it.

The Attorney General has few prosecution duties; these are limited to functions under the various Fisheries Acts and Extradition Acts. Instead, the Director of Public Prosecutions has responsibility for all other criminal prosecutions in the State.

The Office of the Attorney General, is made up of a number of different offices:

• The Attorney General's Office (located at Merrion Street, Dublin 2) containing the Advisory Counsel to the Attorney General (providing legal advice)


• The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (also located at Merrion Street, Dublin 2) containing the Parliamentary Counsel who draft legislation and have responsibilities in the area of Statute Law revision


• 
  The Chief State Solicitor's Office (located at Little Ship Street, Dublin 8) containing the solicitors representing the Attorney and the State who provide litigation, conveyancing and other transactional services


• The Statute Law Revision Unit which simplifies and improves the body of statute law

Part of the Attorney General's function has been to identify and prepare the repeal of all legislation passed before independence. This includes laws of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Britain, England, and the Irish Parliament. For example, the killing of cattle in Dublin is still regulated, in part by an Irish act of 1743, while the "Treatment of Foreign Merchants" is governed by 25 Edw. 1 Magna Carta c. 30, an act of the Parliament of England dated 1297.

History

The office, which was created in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland, is a lineal successor of the offices of Attorney-General for Ireland, Attorney-General for Southern Ireland and the Attorney-General of the Irish Free State (Irish: Príomh-Atúrnae Shaorstáit Éireann). Unlike the modern office, those earlier offices were a creation of statute law, not a written constitution. Unlike the modern office, the earlier offices also had a hyphen between the words attorney and general.

Two less well known but significant roles played by all Irish Attorneys General to date are as the "leader of the Irish Bar" and as a Bencher of the King's Inns. The acceptance by Attorneys General of these non-statutory and often secretive roles upon taking office throughout the years has been questioned and criticised as inappropriate for a Constitutional office-holder. In 1990, the Irish Government's Fair Trade Commission stated that "[w]e have recommended that the Bar Council should be the primary disciplinary body for barristers, and it does not include any members of the judiciary. The Attorney General is, however, a member of the Bar Council, and the Commission believes that it is preferable that he should not be involved when the Bar Council is exercising its disciplinary function. The Attorney General is also a member of the Council of King's Inns, and the Commission believes it to preferable that he should not participate in any disciplinary activity pursued by that body either. Indeed, in general, we find the membership of these bodies by the Attorney General to be somewhat anomalous."^[1]

List of Attorneys General

See also

• Politics of the Republic of Ireland

Notes

External links

• Office of the Attorney General


• Irish Statute Book, produced by the Office of the Attorney General