Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality

Judicial Appointments: Discussion

10:50 am

Photo of Alan FarrellAlan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to give the impression that I was suggesting the higher number of women in the lower courts would naturally trickle up to the higher courts. That was not my point. I was stating this was probably one of the many ways of addressing the issue.

On diversity, Dr. Carroll MacNeill's comments prompted me to think about the role of class in representation among the Judiciary, the Law Library and, albeit probably to a lesser extent, solicitors. As has been pointed out, fewer solicitors than barristers are appointed to the Bench.

There are fewer solicitors appointed to the bench than there are barristers. We have heard of one witness's experience on getting to the point of a career by starting as a solicitor and then becoming a barrister by getting the BL degree. Given the cost of that education, will there ever be a time when we have proper diversity on the bench in terms of background, social class and so forth. We do not have it in our legal representation in the halls of justice. I do not expect it will happen at the judicial appointments level either.

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