Attorney General:The Taoiseach yesterday paid a warm tribute to the outgoing Attorney General, senior counsel Rory Brady, who announced last week that he would not be seeking reappointment to the position.
Mr Ahern, who will announce a new attorney general in the Dáil today, said that Mr Brady had served the country tirelessly over the past five years. He had not only been the longest-serving attorney general in recent decades, but in his view one of the best.
"His work behind the scenes in the Northern Ireland peace process was especially valuable to me in dealing with the many legal and constitutional issues which arose."
Mr Ahern said that the work of the attorney general was seldom done in the public eye, but it was nevertheless absolutely crucial to the effective functioning of government.
"Rory Brady has made an exceptional personal contribution to many of the major achievements of the Government in recent years - from the smoking ban to random breath-testing and to safeguarding Irish neutrality in the Nice II referendum," Mr Ahern added.
Mr Brady has accepted an offer to become a visiting fellow at Harvard and he will be returning to his legal practice in September.