Ms Maura McNally:

I will come in if I may, Chairman. I agree entirely with that. As stated in our previous submissions and as I said at the start, there is no inclusion of the Chair of the Bar of Ireland or the President of the Law Society of Ireland. Our reading is that it is not a tame barrister and a tame solicitor but a tame judge who was a barrister and a tame judge who was a solicitor. That is what is meant by subsection (3) as to the two appointments by the Judicial Council.

The equality of arms the commission seeks means there will be X number of judges and X number of laypersons without any input whatsoever from the two professions that have to appear in front of judges and that are aware of practice and procedure and so on. We do not even get a tame barrister or solicitor, if there is such a thing.