Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. Regarding some of the points made by Deputy Wallace, we support the idea of a lay majority on the judicial appointments commission. We believe it is in line with what is in place in many other jurisdictions and in many other professions and organisations, and that is something that we will be supporting throughout this process.

A point that was clearly made is that lay appointments often are made through the standard process. In order to reform the appointments of judges and any impact that would have on court procedures, there needs to be a much broader representation in the appointments. There are a number of amendments in my name and the names of other members to address that issue.

Regarding Deputy O'Callaghan's amendments, there is a substantial degree of duplication in the different committees for the appointments of judges to different courts. I made that point on the last occasion we discussed the Bill. That is something that could be considered. Of all the additional committees outlined in the legislation, and there may well be too many of them, the procedures committee is probably the one that has the most to offer. The appointments of judges to different courts might have different considerations but, ultimately, the principle would be the same. The procedures committee would have a value in addressing consistency in appointments to the different courts. There is a great deal in this legislation about diversity and the representativeness of the Judiciary. If there is any structure that is appropriate to address that, it is the procedures committee. However, I would be open to supporting some of the other amendments that relate to consolidating some of the committees for the appointments.