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Attorney-General of Ireland
The Attorney General (Irish: An Ard-Aighne) is a constitutional officer who is the official adviser to the Irish Government in matters of law. He is in effect the chief law officer in the Republic of Ireland. The Attorney-General is not a member of the Government but does participate in cabinet meetings when invited and attends government meetings.
As the Attorney General advises the Government on the constitutionality of bills and treaties, he also 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.
The Office of the Attorney-General consists of a number of different offices:
- - The Advisory Counsel to the Attorney-General (providing legal advice);
- - The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (drafting legislation);
- - The Chief State Solicitor's Office (providing litigation, conveyancing and other transactional services);
- - The Statute Law Revision Unit (simplifying and improving 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, the Great Britain, of England and of the Irish Parliament. For example the killing of cattle in Dublin is still regulated, in part by an Irish act of 1743, whilst the "Treatment of Foreign Merchants" is governed by 25 Edw. 1 Magna Carta c. 30, an act of the English Parliament dated 1297.
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. 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 dash between the words attorney and general.
| Contents |
List of Attorneys-General
Attorneys-General of the Irish Free State
| No. | Name | Took Office | Left Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Hugh Kennedy | January 31, 1922 | June 5, 1924 |
| 2. | John O'Byrne | June 7, 1924 | January 9, 1926 |
| 3. | John A. Costello | January 9, 1926 | March 9, 1932 |
| 4. | Conor Maguire | March 10, 1932 | November 2, 1936 |
| 5. | James Geoghegan | November 2, 1936 | December 22, 1936 |
| 6. | Patrick Lynch | December 22, 1936 | December 31. |
Attorneys General under Bunreacht na hÉireann
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