Dr. Laura Cahillane:

I wanted to clarify one point. I wanted to make it clear our submission is not recommending political discretion be reduced. I am sure the proposals we have made do not reduce political discretion in any way. We see the value of that democratic input. What we are trying to say is the Government's choice in terms of the candidates should be guided by professional selection procedures, which are carried on at the JAC level. The importance of interview, role plays and everything else which happens beforehand would culminate in a recommendation to Government with three names ranked, in order to demonstrate one candidate has demonstrated a particular competence or has shown himself or herself to be a better candidate than another.

At that stage, the Government should have full discretion to choose from that list or from outside of it, if that is its choice. Certainly, it is not reducing governmental discretion. We want to be clear this whole point is about fairness for judicial candidates and, for example, the judges' submission made in 2014 made the point that our great reputation in terms of Irish judges is in spite of, not because of, the appointments process we have. There are a great many potential candidates who were never appointed, because of our current system.