Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 8:

In page 8, to delete line 30.

This grouping concerns the structure within the judicial appointments commission and how it proposes to operate. Under the legislation as drafted there will be a series of committees. Amendment No. 8 seeks the deletion of the definition of "Procedures Committee". Subsequent amendments, to which we will come to consider presently, seek the deletion of other committees that are referred to in the Bill. The purpose of the amendment is to try to make the statutory process much simpler. As I mentioned in respect of the first amendment, there is only a series of limited appointments upon which the commission will be asked to advise each year. As I mentioned earlier, the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board, JAAB in its 2016 report advised of its work on eight positions. In the 2015 report there were 11 appointments arising from the work of the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board.

The Bill proposes a structure of a "Procedures Committee" and separate committees for each individual court. There will be a District Court committee, a Circuit Court committee, a High Court committee and committees for the other courts. My view is this will make the process unnecessarily complicated. It is important to have one group of people who are assessing the applications that come in. I do not think it is necessary to have separate committees to consider separate applications. The committee may think that a candidate who has applied for a Circuit Court position may not be suitable for that position but would be suitable for a position in the District Court, for which he or she also may have applied. In the circumstances, putting in this architecture of different committees is making the process much more complicated.

Amendment No. 8 seeks the deletion of the definition of "Procedures Committee". The next amendment in the group, No. 84, is in the name of Deputy Wallace but I do not know if Deputy Wallace wants to deal with it now or if he prefers, I can continue with my next amendment.