Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

I move amendment No. 15:

In page 17, to delete lines 34 and 35.

This amendment seeks to delete section 20 of the Bill. It is not clear that it is an improvement to our jurisprudence to appeal the requirement that a District Court judge must keep a note of the evidence before or him or her. In the absence of any universal transcript system, why should there not be a formal judge's note of evidence?

This amendment had considerable support on Committee Stage and the requirement that it should be deleted was called into question. The Minister made the point that an appeal to the District Court is not by way of a rehearing. A note of evidence is not necessarily an appeal, but it might well be necessary in a case stated or in a judicial review, or to deal with a complaint against the judge or in an issue arising before the proposed judicial council, if it is established. I would be interested in the Minister's response to this.

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