Dr. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill:

There are ten members of the JAAB. Three of them are lay members appointed by the Minister for Justice. There are two answers to the question. A person would have to be of very strong character to routinely take on the judiciary and senior members of the legal profession, including the Attorney General, in respect of people who the lay member does not necessarily know and whose applications are in front of them. Those three people are therefore very important. The culture and processes of the JAAB are crucial also. It is a simple thing to ask the JAAB what its processes are in respect of this. How does it ensure lay participation? There are different experiences. One lay member told me that all these things are done very quickly and that it is no big deal. A President of the District Court told me of mixed experiences with lay members and recalled a person who fought like a tiger on the board and tried to make sure there was a promotion of women and so on.