Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the Bill. I am disappointed with the Government's response because it is quite obviously a very constructive effort to reform a system which is generally acknowledged to be in dire need of reform. My only criticism of the Bill is that it is not radical enough. It is a very good effort to highlight the real problems we have in the judicial system, particularly in the appointment of judges. I was struck by several aspects of the Minister of State's reply. It appears nothing will be done very soon. Anybody who acknowledges the problem and then reads the Minister of State's speech will be staggered when they see the extraordinary process which apparently must be gone through for a reform which everybody knows is vital. The Minister of State spoke about the need for a review, then a consultation process, then a further consultation process, a considered consultative process and then we will have some sort of legislation which needs detailed examination.

I do not know what Governments have been doing on this issue for the past 50 or 60 years but there has been something wrong with the appointment of judges ever since the foundation of the State because there is a certain unanimity, certainly on these benches and apparently on the Government side. I was very struck by one sentence the Minister of State said and I presume it is a reflection of the views of the Minister for Justice and Equality. The Minister of State said, "It is important to state that Government decisions on judicial appointments take only competence and merit into consideration." This is nonsense. Nobody in the land believes the only considerations in the appointment of judges are merit and competence. The most important considerations should be merit and competence, but the defining consideration is far too often the political colour of the applicant. The cases of this are so numerous it is indisputable.

I suspect it is against the rules of the House to name judges and state they are members of political parties, but I could document them one by one and make an overwhelming case, and will do so if I am allowed, for the fact it is of immense benefit, regardless of which party one is in, to be a member of or have served well the party in power. I will not name the person, but a Fine Gael trustee who ran as a colleague with the Taoiseach in his constituency but did not get elected and has a Fine Gael pedigree second to none was appointed to the District Court when the Government came to power. The same person had made many applications under the previous Government but did not get a job. Suddenly whoever makes the appointments saw the light and he was appointed. There are so many cases which are similar to this that the Minister of State's statement that all appointments are made on merit really does not hold any water.

The fact of the matter is the Government has been as bad as the previous Government in using this political patronage at its disposal in appointing to the bench those who have served the parties well over the years. This is the way we do it. It means the appointment of judges and the judicial process is a political cesspool. It is well disguised and well camouflaged by what has been pointed out so well by previous speakers, namely, the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board. It is a joke. It is well dressed up and has people with big titles, such as the President of the High Court, Supreme Court judges and the Attorney General, but at the end of the day it has absolutely no power. It does not even take its own role particularly seriously. The Minister of State will know that since its foundation in 1997, although it has the power to hold interviews, it has not held a single one. It has the power to recommend seven people to the Government, but if the Government does not like the list, it does not have to take anybody from it. The fig leaf is there and there is apparently a process which means there is no direct contact between the Minister for Justice and Equality of the day, who is the principal player although the Government ultimately makes the recommendation, and the applicants. We have this layer which itself is full of political appointees, including the various judges.

We need to take two elements out of judicial appointments. One is the Government in power, so judicial appointment is not a power of patronage, and the other is the legal profession itself. Far too often these appointments are made by insiders and politicians in cabals together who come up with solutions which inevitably mean either insiders in the Law Library or Leinster House are appointed to these positions. This is not acceptable and it is absurd to pretend this is not the way it is done.

I was going to state the wrong Minister of State is in the House today, but it is appropriate he is here because he is a barrister and I respect what he states and what he knows about this. He knows from the Law Library that barristers tell each other whose turn it is this time and who has no chance because of not being in the right party. This is what they say inside and outside the Law Library.

See this speech in context