Ms Mary Keane:

I am happy to deal with that. I suppose it is back to what I was saying earlier. We believe this is a multi-step process and, for eligibility purposes, we do not believe that people should be able to display a certain number of years of experience. We particularly do not agree that it should be before the court to which they are applying. It is because there is no good reason for that. The skills and the qualifications needed in a good judge are not just about the capacity to be able to research case law and argue in court.

Of course, it is fine to have more experience and skills but much of it is to do with personal qualities, such as being a good listener. As for this thing of advocacy or nothing, most judges say very little. Why is having years of experience of saying an awful lot of some great benefit when sitting on a bench from which he or she is supposed to listen, neutrally, about both sides of an argument and look at the cases put before him or her?

Nobody likes some judges who are too interventionist and forget they have left the Bar or the solicitor's profession behind and are now in a different role. There are many characteristics society should want in a good judge which have nothing to do with standing on one's hind legs in a court. That is our view.