Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 122:

In page 51, subsection (1), line 19, to delete “Government” and substitute “President of the High Court”.

The amendment provides that the disciplinary tribunal will now be appointed by the President of High Court rather than by the Government as a mark of the tribunal’s independence.
Amendment No. 123 provides that one of the persons nominated shall be appointed as chairperson of the disciplinary tribunal. Another key change has been the removal of the role of the Government in nominating the lay persons to the tribunal. The Minister must now ensure that the lay persons nominated to be members of the disciplinary tribunal are persons who are independent of the Government and the professional bodies and have knowledge and expertise as set out in the subsection - for example, in the provision of legal services, the interests of consumers, etc. The amendment also provides that the disciplinary tribunal can act in divisions of three and five members. At present each division is to have a majority of lay members, one of whom will be the chairperson, but I may be returning to this on Report Stage to ensure the effective chairing of the disciplinary tribunal.
I want to say that we are anxious to ensure that there is lay involvement. In the context of technical legal matters that could arise we are reconsidering whether the chairperson, in this instance, should in fact be one of the lawyer members, if I could put it that way, as opposed to a lay member. We will come back to that issue.
Government amendments Nos. 124 and 125 are minor technical amendments which I am told by the Parliamentary Counsel are necessary.
Government amendment No. 126 provides for the appointment of the chairperson of the disciplinary tribunal. The person appointed as chairperson may either be a legal practitioner who has practised for not less than ten years or, where the person is not a legal practitioner, have knowledge and expertise in one of the areas set out in the subsection. The chairperson shall be appointed by the President of the High Court from the persons nominated by the Minister for membership of the tribunal.