Dáil debates

Friday, 21 February 2014

An Bille um an gCeathrú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (Ceapacháin Bhreithiúnacha) 2013: An Dara Céim - Thirty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution (Judicial Appointments) Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members]

 

11:50 am

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank everybody who participated in the discussion on the Bill. Some of the reservations expressed by Deputies on this side were very constructive. Some of those who said there should be changes to the Oireachtas committee have a fair point. It is not set in stone. In the Bill I am trying to start a process which would take the appointment of judges away from the Government. If we were to do it in a different way, I would be happy and I am happy to have heard the constructive criticisms, reservations and changes which have come from some of my colleagues. That does not mean, however, that one does not accept a Bill on Second Stage. It means that there detail which should be changed and on which we do not all agree. I am perfectly happy with this and to change it.

I will answer the Minister of State's point. The reason the Oireachtas committee is provided for with a Government minority is specifically to stop Governments stuffing their own people in an Oireachtas committee. It is a protection to stop this happening because of the record of Governments over time. I do not refer particularly to the Minister of State's Government but to every Government. I see nothing wrong with a demographic input into these appointments. I see a demographic input stopping political patronage by Governments in using their majority, as they do all the time, to appoint their cronies. Let us be honest about this. The Bill is about stopping cronyism and let us not hesitate in saying this.

The Minister of State's reply is absurd and ridiculous because it does not address the real issue. It avoids the issues by being insulting, in ways that do not matter and are absolutely wrong. I do not blame the Minister of State, although I reiterate what Deputy Róisín Shortall said. The Minister of State's performance is one which I do not think would have happened a few months ago. The ministerial appointment seems in some way to have been corrosive to his political input in this House, which is very evident in what he said about the Bill. It is a great disappointment to me that it is quite apparent that whoever wrote the script did not read the Bill properly and that the Minister of State proceeded to read it. It specifically states: "In this Bill, Deputy Ross proposes that Members of the Oireachtas should choose our judges but only those unconnected to political parties." That is not what the Bill states and that was why I interrupted the Minister of State because it was a piece of misleading ignorance that he then corrected.

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