Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I support both of these amendments. I cannot understand why the Government has failed to deal with the Judiciary payment in the same way as it has with other public sector workers. I am sure any fair-minded judge would like to see the Government acting decisively instead of messing with this issue. I do not believe this should necessarily be a referendum issue. Probably, it would be a belt-and-braces matter if there were to be a referendum at some stage to deal with it conclusively, but we know it is not necessary in this case.

As previous speakers have said, any judge who disagrees should be taken to court. Why military judges are included I cannot say. I am not too sure what they do in their daily lives, but I am sure it is not something that is likely to be tampered with by the Government. I do not believe it is anything other than basic human rights and fair play across the board they look at. They are unlikely to influence any Government decisions as regards what they do.

A significant number of amendments have still to be addressed and disgracefully, there is little time left. I hope we can get to all of them before 7 o'clock this evening.

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