Solicitor-General for Ireland

rdf:langString Solicitor-General for Ireland

rdf:langString The Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office. The holder was a deputy to the Attorney-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. On rare occasions, there was also a Deputy Attorney-General, who was distinct from the Solicitor-General.At least two holders of the office, Patrick Barnewall (1534–1550) and Sir Roger Wilbraham (1586-1603), played a leading role in Government, although in Barnewall's case this may be partly because he was also King's Serjeant. As with the Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Solicitor-General for Ireland was usually a barrister rather than a solicitor. The first record of a Solicitor General is in 1511, although the office may well be older than that since the records are incomplete. Early Solicitors almost always held the rank of Serjeant-at-law. In the sixteenth century a Principal Solicitor for Ireland shared the duties of the office: confusingly both were usually referred to as "the Solicitor". The Principal Solicitor might also be a Serjeant-at-law, as Richard Finglas was. Elizabeth I thought poorly of her Irish-born Law Officers, and from 1584 onwards there was a practice, which lasted for several decades, of appointing English-born lawyers as Solicitor General. At least one of them, Sir Roger Wilbraham (in office 1586-1603), was a key figure in the Dublin government for many years. Unlike the Attorney General, he was not as a rule a member of the Privy Council of Ireland, although he might be summoned by the Council to advise it. With the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, the duties of both the Attorney General and Solicitor General for Ireland were taken over by the Attorney General of Ireland, and the office of Solicitor General was abolished, apparently as an economy measure. This led to complaints over many years about the undue burden of work which was placed on the Attorney General, whose office was seriously understaffed until the 1930s.