Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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It is appropriate that we have nominating bodies. Why would the President of the High Court be given that role? This involves lay people who will be appointed by a series of bodies whose engagements are quite clear in the areas of expertise they have. They are not bodies that are directly part and parcel of the legal profession. They are separate from it but they should have sufficient expertise to identify appropriate nominees based on the criteria provided. I am not sure it is appropriate that the President of the High Court be put in a position where he or she must make these decisions. If the President of the High Court were to make these decisions, there would be no accountability. I am not suggesting that the current President of the High Court would do anything inappropriate, just as I know when the issue arose as to the modalities of appointments most members did not believe that I would do anything inappropriate in the nomination of individuals, despite some of the brouhaha and allegations made by some campaigning against the Bill who initially did not want an independent legal service authority at all. We cannot assume that people in the future will always make the right judgments about these things. One cannot have a situation in which the courts are independent but the President of the High Court would nominate individuals to this body who would not be accountable if they got it wrong at some future date, which is not impossible.

The Houses of the Oireachtas would have absolutely no role of any description. Indeed, if they tried to play a role, they would be accused of interfering with judicial independence. It is crossing the boundary that we should not cross in respect of separation of powers. I also think that the public wants an assurance that the lay people are nominated without any influence good, bad or indifferent from, if I could put it this way, the legal professions, the Courts Service or the Judiciary in any shape or form. There has to be a perception of the true independence of our judicial system. I hope that would not be misinterpreted in any way as to be critical of any member of the Judiciary or the President of the High Court. It is important that there is a lay nominating process that is separate from our courts system and from the legal professions. That is why we have travelled this route. That is why, in circumstances in which people are nominated and ensuring that there is a mix of independence and some oversight, it is correct to adopt the procedure that we have for the Garda Ombudsman Commission, whereby the nominees must be accepted by way of Dáil resolution. That provides an area of accountability that ensures that the nominating bodies will feel constrained in years to come to abide by the eligibility criteria.