Ms Maeve Collins:

I will hand over to Ms Farrell for more detail but in the case of the Irish person who is on the panel, quite a detailed selection process was undergone. There was a list of candidates all of whom had to be qualified and eligible to hold the highest judicial office in the land, so they all had a detailed legal background. An assessment panel was then set up which included senior officials from the Departments of Foreign Affairs and the Taoiseach and from the Office of the Attorney General. It reviewed the CVs, publications and track records of the candidates and finally put forward two candidates, one of whom was agreed in Brussels as a suitable candidate for this panel. My assumption is that other member states followed quite a similar process. From the Irish perspective, it has the potential to be a very important role indeed so it was crucial to have a very rigorous assessment process of the person's professional and technical abilities and qualifications.