THE Tanaiste defended the Minister for Justice and the Attorney General, and rounded on Fianna Fail when he replied to the confidence debate for the Government.

Mr Spring said that since 1977, Fianna Fail Ministers had been in political control of the Department of Justice for some 13 years. "Those who have sought to blame Deputy Nora Owen for the problems that undoubtedly exist in that Department might do well to reflect on that fact.

He said that he had worked closely with Mrs Owen in the past two years, as she had spearheaded the fight against crime and introduced the legal and management reforms that were necessary.

"I have worked with her, too, in relation to Northern Ireland, both at the intergovernmental level and in the all party talks. In all these areas, she has been an excellent colleague and contributor, and has carried a huge workload with energy and commitment."

The Attorney General, Mr Spring said, had done his job as legal adviser to the Government.

"In his correspondence with the Minister, he raised an issue of fact with possible legal implications. He is criticised not for this but because he did not follow up the queries himself and take the necessary action. He is criticised, in other words, for not doing an administrative job with the Department of Justice.

"It is even suggested by some distinguished commentators who should know better that if the Attorney General had done nothing at all he would have been blameless, but that once he took the step of proffering advice he had a duty to follow it through and ensure that it was followed.

"This is nonsense. The Attorney is adviser to the Government as a whole and its 15 individual Ministers. He advises them on a huge range of issues, from constitutional law, to administrative law, to public international law, to criminal law, to commercial and contract law - every branch of the law, and every issue with which a Government becomes involved which has a legal dimension, which in modern society means virtually every issue.

"Is it seriously to be suggested that on top of all of this, on top of doing his own work as Attorney General, of giving legal advice, the Attorney General is supposed to ensure that his advice is implemented and acted upon? In my experience, a lawyer must advise his client - but it is not his responsibility to ensure that the client acts on the advice."

Mr Spring said he was quite happy to compare current events with what happened in 1994 at the time of the fall of the Fianna Fail Labour Government. "We all know about the accumulation of incidents throughout 1994, and the breaches of trust involved. We all know about the attempts to implement Government decisions as faits accomplis.

In November 1994, there was a major issue which demanded public accountability, a serious scandal which caused outrage among decent people everywhere, the Tanaiste said.

"We demanded that accountability. We demanded it at the Cabinet table and we demanded it in writing - and those letters have been published. We demanded it from the law officer who had overall responsibility for a debacle that should never have happened.

"We demanded that there should be accountability before the law officer was promoted to the second highest judicial office in the land, because real accountability would not be possible after his promotion. We didn't get it. And the Dail was denied it."

Instead, Mr Spring said, there was a Cabinet meeting which rejected - the Attorney General's explanations for the fiasco - and then went on to promote him to a post where he was immune from further questioning.

"No, the attempts to compare this situation with what happened in 1994 are spurious. Fianna Fail were no innocent bystanders then, but were actively engaged - some, perhaps, with more understanding than others of what was involved - in seeking to deprive this House of the explanations to which the House was entitled. And it almost worked.

"If I hadn't discovered the truth, I would have voted confidence in that Government that day. I would not have checked information I got with the then Attorney General, and I would not have got his precise, firm and simple explanations.

What really hurt Fianna Fail, said Mr Spring, was that they were "done in then by the truth, nothing more, nothing less. And they of bear it now, when they see a Government Minister facing up to a difficult situation truthfully and honestly - coming into this House and offering accountability that it requires and deserves."

The Tanaiste challenged Fianna Fail to guarantee support for a package of measures that could be finalised quickly. It would include a new wording for a referendum on Cabinet confidentiality, a freedom of information Bill, a public service management Bill, compellability of witnesses Bill, an amendment to the Ombudsman Act and an administrative procedures act.

THE acting assistant secretary in charge of the courts division of the Department of Justice is understood to have been interviewed by the Cromien inquiry yesterday, writes Padraig Yeates, Industry and Employment Correspondent.

All six civil servants at principal officer and higher executive officer grade in the division are also understood to have been interviewed, as well as a number of senior staff in the office of the Minister, Mrs Owen, including her private secretary.

Today the inquiry is expected to hear evidence from senior officials in the personnel department and possibly clerical staff. The former would give evidence on staffing problems in the Department and the latter may be called if they were involved in typing or filing documents connected with Judge Dominic Lynch's request for a transfer from the Special Criminal Court.

All of yesterday's interviews took place at the Department's headquarters on St Stephen's Green. Staff would have supplied written statements in advance and would have been represented at the interviews by their union representatives.

In the case of principal officers, this would have been the Association of Higher Civil Servants and, in the case of higher executive grade officers, it would have been by the Public Service Executive Union.