Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There will be opportunity, I am sure, before the amendments are put.

Amendment No. 41 certainly shows consistency on the part of Deputy Daly in respect of membership of the commission, in particular, the manner of the appointment of the legal professional body nominees and the stipulation that the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, should nominate a member each to the commission.

This particular amendment operates on section 14(5) of the Bill. The purpose of that section is to ensure that nominees of the Bar Council and of the Law Society should cease to be members of the commission if they cease to be a practising barrister or solicitor.

The amendment would seem to have the effect of requiring the Public Appointments Services to recruit a practising barrister and a practising solicitor to be members of the commission, rather than allowing their own professional bodies to nominate them. The amendment changes the reference to the two members from the Law Society and Bar Council to the two practising lawyers to be selected by the Public Appointments Service. It seems to me, therefore, that whether the two practising lawyers are nominated by their respective representative bodies or recruited by the Public Appointments Service, they will cease to hold office if they cease to practise.

I think the main point here is the approach to the appointment of the two legal professional members.

In line with sufficient precedent - I mentioned the Court and Court Officers Act, 1995 - and for other reasons we have adverted to in the course of this debate, I am not inclined to accept the amendment, nor am I minded to change the basis of the appointment of the members.