Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Commissioner Reynders and thank him for his very thoughtful contributions to the discussion this afternoon. I look forward to seeing him in person in the Irish Parliament as soon as circumstances permit. I pay tribute to him for the care with which he is carrying out his duties in ensuring that the rule of law is kept up to an adequate standard across the EU.

I want to mention one or two things which may be of interest to the Commissioner. As a former Minister for Justice, I started the reform of our defamation law back in the early 2000s. I agree with the Commissioner that Irish defamation law is a little bit suffocating of investigative journalism. There is scope for further reform. I had proposed, for instance, that the presumption that charges against an individual are false should be reversed and that people who want to sue in our courts should undertake the onus of proving that what was said about them is actually false. However, there was push back from my then partners in government on that issue. That could be changed. It is important that the law should permit the media reasonable and fair commentary on matters of public interest, in particular in relation to the discharge of governmental functions by important people within the community without the threat of very expensive litigation. There is room for improvement there and I thank the Commissioner for his remarks.

The second issue relates to the question of the upholding of the rule of law across the EU. I would ask the Commissioner to remember that our system of justice is not the same as many other continental systems. We do not have a professional Judiciary and, therefore, the question as to who becomes a member of the Judiciary is not simply a matter of allowing the Judiciary to supervise that function by themselves. Our Constitution requires that our elected Government has the ultimate say in this matter and we are in a hybrid position now between the United States system, which is very politicised, as we saw with the former President, and the other common law countries which provide for a system of vetting, by an independent body, of candidates for the Judiciary. It is a delicate issue and I would ask the Commissioner to bear that in mind. We have a system whereby we choose people from the legal professions in their 50s or 60s to become judges for the first time because of their experience, status, learning and knowledge of the law and the European models may not always suit us.

The third issue I wish to raise is one that many in this Parliament have been asking about. On money laundering, we find that the enhanced scrutiny of politicians and people deemed to be in politics and their relatives, including people who have very minimal connection with the political process, such as the parent of a person on the administrative body of a political party, is overly complicated. We would ask that in the context of measures to address corruption, it should not be the case that my son or parent, for example, is subjected to enhanced scrutiny against the possibility that I, somehow, am being corrupt.

Finally, I have practised before the Court of Justice of the EU on a couple of occasions and believe it could be improved in two respects and will put them to the Commissioner for his consideration. One is that the single judgment rule, which does not apply in the Strasbourg court where there can be minority and dissenting judgments, should be introduced in the Court of Justice of the EU. It is unsatisfactory that a collegiate court would just issue one judgment and that a minority view or jurisprudence is never seen and is kept secret. The second issue I would ask the Commissioner to look at vis-à-visthe European institutions, is that the Lisbon treaty made provision for the EU to adhere to the European Convention on Human Rights in Strasbourg itself and while I do not want to be unfair in my criticisms of the Court of Justice, it certainly has thrown many trees across the railway line in the context of achieving that goal. I would like the European Commission to be more proactive in ensuring that the EU as a body adheres to the European Convention on Human Rights in the manner provided for in the Lisbon treaty.

I reiterate my thanks to the Commissioner for his contribution. I agree very strongly with some of the points he has made and welcome his independent and objective assessment of Ireland.