Dáil debates

Friday, 6 June 2014

Reform of Judicial Appointments Procedures Bill 2013: Second Stage [Private Members]

 

1:00 pm

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to get an opportunity to speak on the Reform of Judicial Appointments Procedures Bill 2013 today. I congratulate Deputy Mac Lochlainn for the great work he has done in this area and for bringing these very important proposals before us to finally democratise our Judiciary because it is fair to say that the public is deeply and profoundly unhappy with the political nature of the appointment of judges, the perceived selection of judges from a tiny elite of Irish society and what appears when one looks at court records to be one law for the wealthy and another for the poor. It appears that some people who, having committed what most constituents would consider to be very major crimes, walk away virtually scot-free while others receiving very lengthy sentences for stealing a bicycle or a coat, so there is grave disquiet.

In the first instance, I acknowledge the work of the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter. I thought he was right to resign but his efforts to reform the legal system and the establishment of the consultation process were very valuable initiatives. Unfortunately, the pace of reform has been very slow. We have been waiting at length for the Legal Services Regulation Bill 2013. Again, there is grave public disquiet in that area.

There are different systems of appointing judges throughout the democratic world. Like Ireland, many countries use political institutions. Appointments are made through the judiciary itself in some countries. The judicial council system is also used and Deputy Mac Lochlainn has referred to the Judicial Appointments Commission in England and Wales as template we could emulate. Under this system, there are up to seven lay people on the commission if one includes the lay magistrate and five judges. There is a variety of models. What is most interesting for many people is the electoral system used in the US. It is possible to run for election to be a judge even up to the Supreme Court. This reform was introduced in the 19th century to try to get judges who were more representative of society.

Over the years, I have been concerned about the lack of transparency in the area of judicial appointments. While the enactment of the Courts and Court Officers Act 1995 did address some concerns about the political nature of many judicial appointments, most people felt that it did not create the transparency we need. As ordinary citizens, we are familiar with looking at the court records and the performance of judges. The Acting Chairman and I closely observed the magisterial performance of Mr. Justice Nicholas Kearns in respect of the delivery of law and justice respect of the Priory Hall debacle. On the other side of the scale, I have been exasperated in recent years when some District Court judges around the country have not ensured that the will of this House is carried out in respect of the Road Traffic Acts of 2010 and 2011. Instead of ensuring that errant drivers get their penalty points, they have allowed people to escape or gone back to the old common law function of the poor box. This is unacceptable because it is not the will of the people as we have expressed it here in respect of tightening up traffic regulations and law.

In many respects, people are deeply unhappy that we still have such an outrageous system of political appointment of judges in this country and it is something we need to get away from. As Deputy Mac Lochlainn has said, senior members of the Judiciary feel that we need an independent and transparent system where we get the best people and the best legal minds for the job. Under Article 35.1 of the Constitution, judges of the Supreme Court, the High Court and all other courts established in pursuance of Article 34 are appointed by President and the role of the President will remain regardless of whatever reforms are introduced in respect of judicial appointments. The manner in which a new commission has been set out in this Bill would be a much representative and democratic system, which is what the public wants.

One issue that has been raised over the years in respect of the appointment of judges is the necessity to consider the appointment of leading members of the academic legal community. There are some outstanding legal minds throughout our seven universities and senior colleges and it would be right that those distinguished lawyers and teachers would have the opportunity to serve on the bench. I know the Minister agrees with me in respect of that.

I made a submission to the consultation process. One of the issues I considered, and one area where I would have gone further than Deputy Mac Lochlainn, concerns lay members of a judicial appointments commission. Perhaps there could be scope for electing these lay members as is the case in the UK. If there were a half a dozen members, they could be elected with the rest of us at general, local or European election times. People have a great interest in the law and following legal matters. Perhaps senior solicitors or barristers who do not want to be judges would have an input on our behalf. I ask the Minister to examine if there is some way direct democratic accountability could be brought into the process.

In my submission to the consultation process, I echoed the legal formulations of Deputy Mac Lochlainn in respect of non-discrimination in section 4, diversity in the judiciary in section 5 and the rest of the Bill. It is critical that all sections of society are represented. Gender equality in the Judiciary, particularly in the upper echelons, remains a matter of concern. I note that the two most recent appointments to the Supreme Court were female but perhaps we should have a quota system. The Labour Party has a great tradition in that regard going back decades. It was the general principle to try bring forward 50% men and 50% women in these areas. Certainly the aim should be to ensure that neither gender would have less than 40%.

Other issues are the growing diversity of the population in terms of ethnic origin, particularly the arrival of the new Irish in the past decade, and people from those communities who might be training in law. It is early days yet but there is a requirement for more accountability to reflect the growing diversity of our society either through Deputy Mac Lochlainn's Bill or whatever template is hopefully based on it that the Government might employ.

I strongly support major reform in the area of judicial appointments. It will be good to receive the report of the consultation process. Perhaps the Minister of State might tell us how soon we will know because it would be interesting to read the contributions of the different parties and Members of this House and other people, including those in the legal profession.

This is a very important Bill and I commend Deputy Mac Lochlainn. One of the fundamental principles of a free society is an independent Judiciary which is independently and transparently appointed. The Minister of State quoted a review which puts us second on the planet in terms of judicial independence, but the ordinary citizen feels the perceived political nature of appointments is an outrage and should end and we should have independence in this area. If it is possible to give the people a say, at least for the commission or council, we should consider it.

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