Ms Maura McNally:

I have heard nothing of that nature, and I believe firmly in the independence of the Judiciary, because without that, we will not have rule of law. We will not have democracy. It is one of the tenets of our democracy. In respect of the number of judicial review cases, again that is more an issue that can be addressed by the Courts Service.

On the subject of the Courts Service, the Deputy mentioned, and I mentioned it earlier, about the Criminal Courts of Justice, CCJ, moving rape and murder trials out of Dublin to venues such as Kilkenny, Castlebar, etc. We in the Bar of Ireland are very aware of the knock-on effect of that in each county. In the District Court, if a person wants to appeal his or her case, he or she appeals to the local county. For example, in my own county of Leitrim, the appeals would be to Carrick-on-Shannon. It is not affected. If a person is in Mayo, however, and has a case in Castlebar, the criminal trial is now going to be moved, on a circuit perspective, down to Galway. Is that appropriate? Does it take into consideration the travel capacity of individuals? Does it take into consideration the travelling of witnesses, etc? Again, these are issues that are, unfortunately, outside of the scope of the Bar of Ireland, but they are factual matters that should be taken into consideration.

Perhaps it is another example of where the stakeholders or parties involved, whether they be human rights organisations, the Law Society, the Bar of Ireland, victims' rights associations, prison guards, doctors or gardaí who have to give evidence, should all have a say in these decisions that are being made. However, as we have all heard, these are decisions that are being made in very constricted times, where some of the buildings just are not suitable. One cannot fit that square peg into a round hole. To do that, the hole has to be made bigger, and that means expenditure, investment and the hiring of alternative venues so that the cases can proceed. That is in respect of the Circuit Court cases.