Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the three speakers. It was after hearing the three of them give presentations at the Law and Government conference in DCU that I felt we should invite them to come before the committee to explore this issue. It is in the context of the review of judicial appointments, which I hope this committee will feed into, because the witnesses have offered worthwhile insights.

On the issue of diversity, Senator O'Donovan is right about the need to achieve greater scope for gender balance by appointing more solicitors directly. Over 50% of law students have been women since the mid-1980s. Dr. Kenny made reference to the Inner Bar - senior counsel - and this seems to be a particularly difficult area for women to break into. That has certainly changed since the report we did in 2003, but it is still the case that there is a much smaller pool of women to choose from if one is picking only senior counsels for promotion.

As well as widening the pool from which judicial appointments are made to include more solicitors and, perhaps, academics and practitioners from NGOs and other fields, should we consider putting something specific in the legislation about diversity - not just gender - and the promotion of diversity? I would be interested to hear Dr. Cahillane's views on this.