The Taoiseach defended the right of the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, to make public statements in a personal capacity.

"There is a big difference between somebody giving his personal views in his non-Attorney General role and giving legal advice," said Mr Ahern, who was responding to Opposition questions about Mr McDowell's speech on tax reform and his proposals for changing the name and structure of the Progressive Democrats.

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, asked Mr Ahern in what capacity Mr McDowell had been speaking, "when as the putative president of the putative radical party" he had declared he would like to see income tax rates at 16 per cent and 33 per cent.

"Was that a public interest function, or was that the legal advice to the Government function?"

Mr Ahern said Mr McDowell had made it quite clear he was not speaking in his role as Attorney General.

Mr Quinn asked if it was helpful for the cohesion of the Government that the AG was attempting to become the executive president of the party currently led by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney.

Mr Ahern said he was not responsible for what Mr McDowell did outside his role as Attorney General. "Thankfully, in a democracy, he is free to speak as he wants. Indeed there are occasions when he will speak on matters outside of the role of Attorney General. And he follows a long and distinguished list of people doing that.

"I think it is six times, since the foundation of the State, that Attorneys General were members of the House. These people spoke on many issues outside their role as AG."

Mr Quinn said the AG would like to be a member of the House, but his colleagues deprived him of that. Mr Ahern said that in the past Mr McDowell was a very distinguished member of the House, and he now had another eminent role in which he was doing an excellent job.

The Fine Gael deputy leader, Mrs Nora Owen, said the Taoiseach should accept that when Mr McDowell was listed as the AG at a speaking engagement, he was speaking as the AG.

Mr Ahern replied that was not the case. "When the deputy was the Minister for Justice, the then AG made many speeches about issues in her area. He made them as AG, but at all times he stated that he was making them in his non-Attorney General role."

The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, asked if Mr McDowell was happy in his work. Mr Ahern replied: "He is ecstatic." When Mr Bruton asked the Taoiseach why Mr McDowell had applied for a full-time job elsewhere, Mr Ahern replied: "I can assure Deputy Bruton that I take enormous interest in the performance of the AG in his day-to-day work. As in the case of any other Attorney General, I do not check up on what he does after he leaves the office."

Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) said the claimed impartiality of the AG's office was "in conflict with the AG, who is a political wannabe, a would-be president of a radical party, although we are not too sure whether it would be radically redundant or redundantly radical."