Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That comes down to the point that the removal of a judge from office in Ireland through impeachment is virtually impossible, as I well know. I should have prefaced my remarks by saying that as somebody who has practised law for 36 years, I believe our judges have served us well, by and large. That is something that should be borne in mind.

On the ratio of women in the Judiciary, I am a solicitor by profession and I am aware there are now more women than men who are qualified solicitors. As far as I know only one solicitor has ever been appointed to the High Court. In terms of the Circuit Court, the High Court and particularly the Supreme Court, unless one comes from the Bar Council one's chances of being appointed are slim to nil. There are some excellent solicitors with a great deal of experience who are being ignored for appointment, and that is not necessarily for political reasons.

What are the views of the witnesses on continuing legal education programmes for judges? Family law was not even on the agenda when I studied law, nor was European law. Family law then became a major issue but I had no experience of dealing with family law courts, etc. In the area of continuing legal education, which we must all go through, do the witnesses envisage a programme where judges would have to stand aside from the Bench and go through a two or three weeks or a two or three months training course every three or five years to be updated on that area?