Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This forum is being put together to formalise the arrangement whereby the Attorney General, in the past, would substantially communicate with the Chief Justice. Now the group will be representative of the different levels within the court system and it will facilitate members of the Judiciary raising issues of concern. The Attorney General will either address those issues or report to the Government on the issues that need to be addressed. It is important that such discussion takes place and it is not in the public interest for every issue raised by the Judiciary to be publicly broadcast. It is entitled to some degree of confidentiality in the communications that take place.

One of the issues that would have arisen is the architecture of the new court of appeal, which is very important. I welcome the fact that this week the Attorney General furnished a submission to me from the judicial sub-committee considering the issue of the court of appeal and the constitutional architecture that should surround it. I very much welcome that very positive and constructive contribution by members of the Judiciary in the development of a very new important court within our judicial architecture.

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