Ms Madeleine Reid:

Even in Irish legislation we do not normally put in provisions requiring members of the Judiciary to have specific training. It is a little difficult for us to do that. It is not considered consistent with judicial independence. There are other provisions which would raise questions as well. For example, there is a provision requiring cases to be heard in a timely manner. Again, in Irish legislation, even where we consider that cases are really priority cases, we do not give a direction to the court as to how they are to organise their business. We put in timelines for the parties, but we do not direct the Judiciary as to how they are to organise their lists.