Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Our committee had the opportunity to meet with one of the members of the Judiciary who worked with the sentencing council in England and Wales. I have to say I am a fan of the model in that there is a consultation process with the public. It does not narrow the sentence too tightly, as no two cases are the same, but it clearly gives the Judiciary the parameters under which the public expect the sentence to be applied.

With regard to the Supreme Court, there is now, thankfully, a Court of Appeal that limits the number of appeals that have been inevitably sent on to it. The Supreme Court can now be freed up to a certain extent to focus on one of its most important responsibilities, which is to interpret the Constitution. What are the witnesses' views around a legislative framework that could ensure, certainly at that level within the Supreme Court, that there is a range of diversity of experience, including academic experience? To be frank, there has been a criticism of the Supreme Court historically that it was too conservative in its compositions and, therefore, its interpretation of the Constitution would be a conservative interpretation. How do we get to the point at which it is reflective of society in the very fundamentally important role it performs?